As a pastor, this is a sticky subject area for me to venture into.
What area?
The area of talking about balance in serving. The reason it’s sticky is that there are generally two types of people in our churches, and both tend to run to the extremes. You have those who serve on fumes, you know, the folks who don’t miss teaching every class, cooking for every potluck, picking up trash at every work day. They are so committed that they may even miss actual church services for several weeks in a row because they are rocking babies in the nursery or directing traffic in the parking lot. The problem here can be that spiritually they run out of steam because they aren’t making sure they are fueling up by being a part of worship or hearing the preaching of the Word. Worse still, they may allow the “good works” they are involved in to take the place of personal time they should be setting aside to spend with the Lord.
What about the other type of people I referenced? Oh, those are the people who when asked to serve always have the overused answers: “I’m burned out! Passing out the cookies at that VBS last summer really took it out of me!”, or “I did my time! I ushered for 19 years! It’s my turn to sit in the pew!”, or my personal favorite, “Oh, I really need to pray about it!” Don’t get me wrong – we need to pray! But, if we are spending time alone with God and in His Word on a regular basis, those in the first category will always be fueled up and those in the second will be ready to answer in and out of season.
Do we need breaks? You bet! If Jesus needed them, you know we do! Do we need to be good stewards of our time and energy? Of course! I have to confess I would definitely fall into the category of fume-serving at times and that is nothing to be proud of. God doesn’t want us coasting on empty spiritual tanks, but He doesn’t want us sitting on full ones either.
What about the other type of people I referenced? Oh, those are the people who when asked to serve always have the overused answers: “I’m burned out! Passing out the cookies at that VBS last summer really took it out of me!”, or “I did my time! I ushered for 19 years! It’s my turn to sit in the pew!”, or my personal favorite, “Oh, I really need to pray about it!” Don’t get me wrong – we need to pray! But, if we are spending time alone with God and in His Word on a regular basis, those in the first category will always be fueled up and those in the second will be ready to answer in and out of season.
Do we need breaks? You bet! If Jesus needed them, you know we do! Do we need to be good stewards of our time and energy? Of course! I have to confess I would definitely fall into the category of fume-serving at times and that is nothing to be proud of. God doesn’t want us coasting on empty spiritual tanks, but He doesn’t want us sitting on full ones either.
So, if you're running on empty...don't get frustrated with other people who are not pulling their weight. Just spend some time with Jesus and get filled up again.
Oh, and if you are full...don't you think it's time to become a "participator" instead of a "pew potato?"
