Sunday message-running to avoid discouragement

This week, I hit an article by Rick Warren- the "Purpose-Driven Life" pastor- on avoiding pastoral discouragement.  And though not a pastor myself, it really hit home with me.  Especially the first point- which is why I want to share them with you, in reverse order.

6- Stay focused on the big picture

“The reality is, every time you get tired, you lose your perspective. You don’t think about Heaven when you’re tired. You think about what you’re feeling right now. When you’re tired, you don’t have a good perspective,” he said. “We need you to last. We need you to not flame out or to burn out or to rust out.”


So often, I get discouraged at the news; the evil, the murder, the justifications.  Watching Congressmen lie without flinching and women defending abortion as something to celebrate.  The devil knows it's a real prime time to hit me up.  And yes, you need to pray, you need to make a stand where you are called.  But some nights, when it's all on your mind's shoulders, you have to give it to God and just sleep.  When you wake up, it is easier to see God, because you can stand upright again instead of bowing under the load.


5- No pain, no gain


... the pastor encouraged those gathered to remember that God never wastes pain: “Your greatest ministry will come out of your deepest pain if you’ll be honest with God, honest with yourself and honest with others,” he offered.


And those aren't throwaway "ifs", either.  So many times, we come to God with a list of "why did You let"s.  Ask yourself two things:  Why did it pain me?   What am I to learn from it?  One exposes your core motivations; the other opens you to God's.  Your honest answers will lead you to the next item:

4- Know your weaknesses


Warren exhorted those in ministry to remember that God’s power is often manifested in weakness: “When I first started off in ministry, I didn’t even know I had any weaknesses,” Warren said. “Then I discovered them, and I denied them. Then I went from denial to hiding them. Then I went from hiding them to rationalizing them. Then finally I went to accepting them, and today, like Paul, I glory in my weaknesses because when I am weak, He is strong.”

Level one- weakness, what weakness?
Level two- no, that's not me...
Level three- I can't let anyone know about this...
Level four- No, I have a reason for this.  You see, Lord...
Level five- I have a weakness.  But God is stronger.

I don't know about you, but I spend too much time stuck between three and four...

3- Don't be self-focused

“Every time you forget about this principle and you forget that it’s not about you, you’re either going to get fearful or you’re going to get prideful or you’re going to get bitter in ministry,” Warren said.

“Everybody in this room has a unique life message that God wants to share with the world, but your life message is not about you. It’s about Him. It’s about our Savior Jesus Christ."

God is more interested in “why you do what you do than He is what you do.”


“A lot of people start off as servants and end up as celebrities. They forget why they do what they do, and all of a sudden it is all about them,” he said.


I wonder if this is what brought down James McDonald.  I know it is my tendency.  My knowledge, my opinion, my learning.  I hope I bring out in these posts not, "Hey look what God showed me"- though He has shown me a lot- but more, "This is the next step in the long line of 'I need to learn' that God is taking me through, to cover the distance between now and what I SHOULD be. "

2- Be you

 ...he encouraged pastors to avoid the temptation to “fake it,” adding: “If you’re going to be used by God, if you’re going to be effective for God, if you’re going to last in ministry, you’ve got to be authentic, you’ve got to be genuine, you’ve got to be yourself. You’ve got to keep it real.”

God, the pastor contended, “did not create you to be somebody else” — and those who focus on pleasing everyone end up experiencing ministry burnout.


“When you get to Heaven, God isn’t going to say, ‘Why weren’t you more like Billy Graham?’ The reason we try to fake it is because we try to please everybody. Only a fool would try to do what even God can’t do. Even God can’t please everybody.”


Now I do want to say, Rick might have phrased one thing differently- the part about 'even God can't please everybody.'  He could, do not doubt that, but not as we are.  Sinful, setting ourselves up as our own 'god'.  That might be better phrased as God WON'T please everybody.

But the point is valid.  The only one we are striving to be more like is Jesus.  Name another character in the Bible to be like.  Moses?  Okay, go kill someone and run away.  Abraham?  Fine, tell the neighbors your wife is really your sister so they won't beat you up.  David?  Paul?  The list goes on.

But the part that hit me, at the time I read it, is this:


1- Your first purpose in life


“I’m interested in finishing well, and I want you to finish well. Your ministry matters to God. It matters to the Kingdom. We need you to stay in the race. We need you to not get tired. We need you to not quit. We need you to not give up. We need you to finish your race."

With church attendance plateaued or declining nationwide, Warren outlined several ways church and ministry leaders can fight discouragement, beginning with, “Never forget how much God loves me.”


“You’ve got to keep that constantly in focus,” he reminded attendees. “Everything in your ministry flows out of God’s love, God’s mercy, God’s grace. The problem is we can get so busy working for God, we forget how much God loves us. Your first purpose in life is not to love God. Your first purpose in life is to let God love you. The Bible says you were created as an object of God’s love.”


Stay in the race.  You sin, you get up.  It's not about winning the race (though you run so as to win), but that GOD LET YOU RUN.