The greatest danger I face in the ministry is thinking I've got it all (or even most of it) figured out! The truth is that ministry (like any other job) involves a lot of routines -- agendas, meetings, getting the bulletin figured out, returning phone calls, etc. But as soon as I allow it to become simply a job, simply routine, I'm in trouble!
The worst possible thing I can do is coast. And yet that's the easiest mode to fall into, because I've been doing this for so long. I've come to understand how the TV evangelists could fall into the traps that some of them have, because after a while, you begin to think that you're pretty good at what you do -- and you forget that ministry, at its heart, is what HE does through you. I can put on a "show" for a while, but pretty soon if I am just coasting in my own abilities, my humanity surfaces and I am driven back to grace!
For me, my daily exposure to the Word -- as I prepare for next Sunday's message -- keeps me humble and dependent. As I hear God speaking to Israel (or whomever), I hear Him challenging me not to coast but to rest completely on Him.
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