Get to Work

Some say they are "burned out" in ministry and can’t go on.

In 40 years of ministry, I have never been tired of service but I have been tired in it. What better thing to be tired from? Time spent serving God is never wasted.

Nowhere in the Bible are we told to "take it easy." Jesus told the story of the foolish man who said that very thing: "I’ll sit back and say to myself, ‘My friend, you have enough stored away for years to come. Now take it easy! Eat, drink, and be merry!’" (Luke 12:19 NLT). And that is exactly what people say to us today: "Take it easy, man!"

"But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’"

We are told to "press on" and "not be weary in well-doing" and "run the race." Our greatest recreation and rest will come later in Heaven and on the new earth. Oswald Sanders said, "The world is run by tired men." We will never do great things for God until we have learned to minister when we are tired. In the sports world, you learn how to press on even when injured. God uses people who are willing to work hard and apply themselves.

The apostle Paul understood this, and wrote, "Surely you remember, brothers, our toil and hardship; we worked night and day in order not to be a burden to anyone while we preached the gospel of God to you" (1 Thessalonians 2:9 NIV).

• By the way, you will find whenever God called people, they were busy doing something! Elisha was ploughing a field when Elijah called him.
• Moses and David were tending sheep when they were called, one to save a nation and the other to lead one.
• Gideon was threshing wheat when he was called by an angel to lead the armies of Israel.
• James and John were fishing for fish when they were called by Jesus to start fishing for men.

There is certainly a time to refresh and rest and recharge, but let’s be busy about the work that God has set before us!