Balance is something athletes need – but so do pastors and church leaders. We tend to go to extremes in what we do. That includes how we use our time. Some leaders try to do too much in a day while others do too little. What we need is balance. Our calling is to do the job God assigns us, not to clock in, work 8 hours and then go home. We have great flexibility in how we use our time. Others don’t know how much or how little we do in a day. We can harm ourselves and our families by overworking. We can also look busy but not really do much productive work in a day. It’s up to us to be good stewards of our body and time.
THE EXTREME OF LAZINESS. Unfortunately, there are some Christian leaders who take advantage of the freedom they have in ministry and don’t make good use of their time. They start slowly in the morning, spend lots of time talking with others about unimportant things and do that which doesn’t accomplish much for the Kingdom of God. We don’t have to be busy and productive every minute, but we are accountable to be good stewards of our time. That means a good balance between work and rest. Paul says in Ephesians 5:16 “making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil.”
THE EXTREME OF OVERWORK. The biggest danger for most pastors and leaders, though, is to overwork. There is more that could be done than we have time to do, so we push to do as much as we can, even if it harms our health and family. People are impressed when we are busy and it makes everyone think we are important. Important, time-consuming activities are always coming up. People have needs and often think we have nothing to do but help them. However, ministry is like a long-distance race, not a dash. It’s a marathon, not a sprint. We are not competing with others or trying to do more work than others. Therefore, we must pace ourselves for the long haul so we don’t burn out before we reach our finish line. We must know and respect our limitations. And we must know and meet the needs of our mate and family. Jesus never calls us to a life of ceaseless exhaustion. He said, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28-30) We must always remember that our work is His, our pace is His, and our results (or fruitfulness) are His as well. He gives us permission—in fact, calls us—to rest. We need to balance a well-paced life of work (without finding identity in achievement) followed by rest and restoration (without feeling guilt or fearing the disapproval of God or men).
We need to pace ourselves by balancing hard work with times of rest. If not we will burn out our bodies and emotions. Our health will fail. We will be ineffective and unable to continue as we should. Refusing to rest will eventually mean that the demands of the call require more than we have to give. We need to eat healthy meals, exercise regularly, keep from getting overweight and get enough good sleep each night. At my age I need a short nap every afternoon to function most effectively. At any age, a rest time during the day can be time well spent!
Our minds and emotions need rest as well as our bodies. Doing things we enjoy, pursuing a hobby or having fun is important to balance the stress and pressure of ministry. A tired leader is discouraged, weary, and perhaps even angry or irritable. Emotionally spent people want to avoid others, or they do damage when they can’t. Rest restores emotional energy, which means you can bring your most joyful self into ministry. Everybody else would prefer to be led by that version of you!
Our wives and children should not perpetually have to “sacrifice” time with us while we serve Jesus. That’s dishonoring to God, and destructive to the home and church. Appropriate rest will bolster our leadership with happy marriages and healthy families for the long haul, and those we lead deserve that. Too often children of pastors and leaders don’t follow the Lord when they grow up because their father was too busy with the church to give them the time they need. How awful it would be to lose our own families while trying to save others!
Pastors are examples in all aspects of life. Good examples rest, take breaks, enjoy family vacations, and have days off. Bad examples don’t. As leaders, our pace of life and rest is teaching others to do the same.
God rested, not because He needed it, but to show us a pattern. The right kind of rest honors Him. Like tithing shows you don’t worship money, resting shows you don’t worship self or personal achievement. Resting shows you and others that your identity is found in Jesus not in performing. This is the essence of the gospel—we rest in Jesus’ work, not our own.
Rest declares our dependence upon Jesus. It shows that we truly believe God is in control and that He is doing the work. It shows that we look to Him to lead and guide us. Always being tired shows the opposite. How can we lead others into dependence upon a Shepherd we do not depend on ourselves? When we are too busy we neglect prayer and Bible study. Our sermons are not as good as they could be because we don’t take the time needed to develop them. We need to have quiet time meditating on the Word and listening to God speak to us. That is very important.
Rest is wise. Laziness is unwise. The two are very different. Rest is Christ-like and biblical. If you don’t get it, you won’t be able to adequately fulfill God’s call on your life. The tricky thing about balance is that is different for everyone. We each need to find out own balance in life, not copy someone else’s lifestyle. Even then, it changes as we age. I can’t do nearly as much now as I approach age 80 years of age as I did years ago. Things slow down. I still need to find a healthy balance for me at this age – and so do you. That’s an important part of being a good steward of our time and body.
Colossians 3:23-24 “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.”
How is your balance? Ask your mate and some of your closest friends who will be honest with you. Ask God to show you where you need better balance. Write down some of the things you should change to have better balance in your life.
cto Rev. Dr. JERRY SCHMOYER
Christian Training Organization
Jerry@ChristianTrainingOrganization.org
(India, Africa & Spanish Outreach, Spiritual Warfare, Family Ministries, Counseling, World View)
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