Is Your Relationship With God Real-Time?

by Craig Etheredge

It’s Sunday. You’ve just finished giving your final sermon of the day. You’ve finished speaking to the line of people who wanted to speak to you directly and now it’s time for lunch and rest. Maybe your church has Sunday night programming, so you attend that.

Then it’s Monday, meaning you probably have several emails giving you feedback about yesterday’s sermon. There are probably staff meetings, to-do lists, meetings with church members, deacons and elders. In between that, you’re trying to prepare for next week’s sermon.

Tuesday looks a lot like Monday but also has a sprinkling of preparation for Wednesday night activities.

Wednesday is almost like a blur, especially if your job is in the student ministry or children’s ministry because, in addition to your office-related tasks, sermon prep, and any other meetings you may have, there’s church programming tonight.

Thursday comes around and before you know it, you’re trying to finish up all of the other tasks you haven’t been able to get done during the rest of the week, in addition to preparing for your sermon.

You may have Fridays off to count as your weekend, but that doesn’t mean that there isn’t work to be done. Maybe there’s yard work or other home improvement projects. And you can probably put in another hour working on your sermon for Sunday.

We haven’t even mentioned what your schedule looks like if you’re married and have kids.

All of this comes with having a job in ministry, even if it’s not your full-time job.

But what we haven’t discussed is this—where are you investing time into your personal relationship with God? Is your relationship with Him real-time?

Pastors burn out quickly when their lives become all about church programming. But God’s calling on your life actually has little to do with programming and a lot to do with making disciples.

Your challenge today is to examine your week. Spending time walking with the Lord and investing in your personal relationship with Him will impact not only your faith but the relationships you have with the people around you. Have you been investing in your personal relationship with God this week?

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By Craig Etheredge of discipleFIRST. Used with permission.