Living Water

After nearly 5 months of working as a youth pastor, and spending the past 2 months without a head pastor, this is one servant of God who is tired.

I love what I do. I love caring for the youth of God's family. I love preparing worship services and leading God's people on Sunday mornings. I love being a part of God's family and tending His flock. But I'm doing it wrong.

I am working out of my own strength. My own reserves.

In Christ's ministry, He got his strength, wisdom, and direction from the Father. Christ couldn't do it on His own (John 5:19). He needed strength and guidance from our Father in heaven. So if Christ needed God's help, how much more do I?

And perhaps that's why me (and so many other servants of ministry) suffer from burnout and weariness. We try to refuel on coffee. Use vacations and retreats to replenish our reserves. But these things are just well water. Christ told the lady at the well;

"Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst."
(John 4:13-14)

We need to seek our strength from Christ. Not from our well. When Christ tells us to lay our burdens on Him, he means it (Matthew 11:28-30). It's important that we recognize our place in God's kingdom. We aren't caring for God's sheep out of our own compassion and love, but rather God's love. We only love our congregations because He first loved us (1 John 4:19).

We aren't the source of water to give. We aren't giving ourselves to our congregation. We're giving Christ. And so we need to take the living water, because everything else is going to leave us thirsty and coming back for more.