Every day in the life of a ministry leader, we will answer too many emails, organize crowds of volunteers, encourage and equip our teams, cast vision for why we do what we do, while sitting in carpool lanes after packing school lunches, making coffee, and hugging our spouse goodbye. We’ll attend meetings, lead meetings, visit a family with a new baby, deliver a meal to a homebound friend, meet a volunteer for coffee and a friend for lunch. Then we rush to pick up kids by 4, make dinner by 6, bathe the littles, while helping the bigs with homework followed by reading a few books before bedtime prayers.

This is what we do – and we can make it look good while doing it! But I get to the end of my day, and the end of this paragraph and I have to ask myself… did I miss the point?

Did I miss You – Jesus, completely?

We can tarry and toil, and do it all in the name of the Jesus we love and serve, and miss HIM completely. When that happens, the joke is on us, but the only one laughing is the same sleaze ball that is so conniving, so deceitful and so sneaky that he would use the good things of God to keep us from God completely. Satan would, could, and will use our calling to keep us so busy and preoccupied that it keeps us from the very thing, the very person who gives us life and purpose.

If you’ve been in kids’ ministry long, you’ve likely already been challenged with “keeping the main thing the main thing.” It’s easy to get caught up in the program and miss the gospel. As leaders we have to take a step back and apply the same concept to our lives. We can so busy ourselves with the work that we miss the Man. And our work is in vain.

What if when asked WHO we are, instead of answering with our titles, roles and responsibilities, credentials and experience, we answered with the only thing that matters… the one thing that truly gives our lives meaning, and our calling credit.

“I am loved by God.”

What if we really believed it? If we aren’t resting there first, we can quickly, and quite easily get carried away and make our calling our god when we define ourselves by our work instead of by our Creator.

So how do we make the main thing the main thing in our personal lives? How do we keep Jesus at the center of everything we do? God answers this for us in His word. We remain in Him… (See John 15:5-11)

We seek Him through his Word.
We sit in silence with Him.
We make sure we are creating space on Sundays to go to service. (Yes, I said it.)
We are taking a Sabbath.
We prioritize God first, family second, work third and then we figure out what that looks like in our lives and we make it happen.
We seek wise counsel and get help when we need to.

Your work is different than mine. Our to-do list are not the same. But our calling is:

  • Love God (first).
  • Love people (second).
  • Do stuff (third).

You are loved by God. Believe it. Live it. Let your work flow from it. Cling to the vine like your life depended on it, because friend… your life (and your work) DOES depend on it.