Physician, heal thyself !
(Or, “Re-Invent Thyself !”)
In Luke 4:23, Jesus came back to Nazareth (where He grew up) and spoke in the synagogue, and told the people that they would one day say to Him this proverb, “Physician, heal thyself ”.
To be sure, He was referring to the future mockery of His crucifixion, but, for a moment, I’d like to take another approach to these words.
In order for the Lord to give us the growing ministries that we want, we ourselves must learn to grow along with them. We must keep up with the needs of our ministry. Therefore, we must, from time to time, ‘re-invent’ ourselves.
A church of 50 must be managed differently than a church of 20, and a church of 100 must be managed differently still. We must become what our ministries need us to be. This means we MUST become better organizers, leaders and (above all things!) better prayer-warriors.
Whatever size your ministry is right now, ask yourself this question, “If another man, who was used to a ministry 2 or 3 times the size of mine, came and took over, what changes might he make? What things might he do differently than I am doing right now? Would he be as often discouraged as I tend to be?”
Now the truth is that God doesn’t want that other man to take your position (at least not yet), but He does want you to become better (sort of ‘re-invent yourself ’) so that He can make your ministry grow.
A few suggestions to ‘re-invent yourself ’:
- Fellowship with the men in whom you see the wisdom and qualities you feel you need.
- Always reflect and analyze everything you’ve done, looking for what you can learn.
- Broaden your base-of-thought by reading good books on management and leadership.
- Learn how to maximize your relationship with God through your daily Prayer-Closet.
Stay in the game!
Your brother in Christ,
Steven J. White
Pastor
I’d like to invite any Independent Baptist preacher (pastor, missionary, evangelist, or retired) to offer helpful advice, experiences and thoughts that will encourage others in the ministry. I want others to hear what you have to say. If this is of interest to you, please email me your thoughts or suggestions. None of us will get ‘paid’ for any of this, but all of us will get ‘sharpened’.