Tag: spiritual health

  • Letter #60 (The Body’s Head–3)

    Dear Small Church Congregation,

         You begin to feel rough and sluggish.  You decide to go see your doctor and discover that you have gained too much weight and are taxing your circulatory system to the point that it has affected your overall physical abilities.  Your doctor suggests a change in diet, more exercise and regular checkups to keep a watch on your progress toward better health.  You now have to decide if you are going to follow his suggestions or continue doing what you have been doing that has created this poor health.

         Now your brain takes over, and you have to choose to ignore the warning signs of a possible heart attack, or even a stroke, or are you going to do what the doctor suggests.  The situation now becomes a matter of your will, your ability to choose.  You know the consequences of each choice.  Why in the world would you choose poor health over improvement when your brain is trying to get you to make a good choice?  Why would you ignore your doctor?

         Suppose that, instead of poor physical health, that rough, sluggish feeling, we are talking about your spiritual health.  Maybe you don’t feel like you’re as close to God as you once were.  Maybe you know you have slacked off on reading your Bible and you seldom pray.  Perhaps you have not attended a worship service or Bible study in a week or two, or a month or two.

         And then it happens—the Holy Spirit nudges your spirit and reveals to you that you need to do some correcting in your spiritual disciplines so you can gain spiritual health again.  A friend tells you he has missed seeing you in the congregation, and you respond with, “I’ve been really busy lately,” knowing that is not really why you missed worship services.  The pastor sends a text or calls to check up on you, and you begin to feel like “they’re harassing me.”

         It’s at this point that your spiritual brain (the will of God being presented to you through Jesus) lets you know what you’re going to have to do in order to regain your spiritual health.  I have to ask the same questions I did about your physical health—Why in the world would you choose poor spiritual health over improvement when your spiritual brain is trying to get you to make a good choice?  Why would you ignore the will of God for your life?

         In the physical realm, we ignore our doctors because we simply do not want to do what it will take to improve our health.  We like potatoes with plenty of butter and sour cream.  We enjoy the chocolate-glazed donuts.  We see no reason to have to do without the foods we have always relished.

         And exercise?  Why would I exercise when I know I already walk plenty at work?  I’m active.  I’m no sluggard.  I’m not a morning person, and I can’t see myself getting up an hour early to go to a gym.  And in the evening, can’t a guy (or gal) simply rest in the lounge chair after a good supper?

         In the spiritual realm, we ignore that spiritual nudging because we simply do not want to do what it will take to improve our relationship with Jesus.  We’ve always enjoyed our favorite singers, regardless of the song lyrics.  I relax while I’m watching  those sit-coms that present all of life as one long laugh, regardless of their themes.  I see no reason to change what I’ve always done when it comes to entertainment.

        Spiritual disciplines?  Why would I attend every worship service possible when I can tune in on the net without having to get out of my pajamas.  Bible study?  I get bored reading the Old Testament.  Prayer meetings?  I can pray at home. (But will I?) 

         If we make a poor choice when it comes to our physical health, the result can be devastating.  If we make a poor choice when it comes to our spiritual health, the result can be just as devastating, only this devastation can last for all eternity.  If we refuse to listen to our spiritual brain, if we reject God’s will for our lives, if we choose to reject a close relationship with Jesus, we have chosen spiritual death over life. 

         It has often been said that people do what they want to do.  When it comes to your spiritual life, what do you want to do?  Do you want to listen to your spiritual brain and act on the will of God that the Jesus reveals to you?

    Sincerely,

    A Small Church Pastor

  • Letter #33 (Take a Break)

    Dear Small Church Pastor,

         We tell our people not to over-do-it.  We tell them to pace themselves.  We tell them there are only twenty-four hours in a day.  We tell them they need to take a break for mental, emotional, physical and spiritual health.  But do we ever take a break ourselves?

         When was the last time you turned off your phone, sat down on your front porch or in the back yard and did nothing except enjoy God and His nature?  Think about this for a moment—how many times have you seen people sitting in those nice rocking chairs on front porches near where you live?  What about the gazebos in the yards—do you see people relaxing in them on any kind of regular basis?  Pastors are apparently not the only ones who need to stop to take a break regularly.

         I broach this topic out of personal destructive experience from my own ministry.  There were times when I was working so much, talking so much, researching so much and attempting to fulfill all those expectations that exist for people in ministry so much that I never really rested.  Oh, I took an occasional nap, but genuine, stop-everything rest, simply did not occur.

         I don’t know that I can determine the exact day and time that I fully understood the significance of the term “Sabbath.”  I can’t tell you which message I prepared that led me to internalize the importance of rest.  I don’t remember which guest speaker at a ministerial meeting caught my attention about resting.  I just know the Holy Spirit was able to finally impress on me that when God said, “Remember the Sabbath to keep it holy,” He meant it.

         Remember that Jesus told the pharisees that the Sabbath was made for man, not the other way around.  Jesus purposely healed on the Sabbath just to indicate that He was Lord of the Sabbath, as well as any other day.  He also pointed out that David took sacred bread to feed his companions and the priests work making sacrifices in the temple on the Sabbath.  I believe He did that to point out that all the rules and requirements that had been established by traditional teaching had burdened people into not being able to function properly on the day of rest.  In addition to this, Jesus attempted to get the disciples away from the crowds and ministering more than once in order for them to get away for some rest.

         I had to come to grips with the concept that those in ministry, the pastors and spiritual leaders among us, need rest just like everyone else needs it.  I had to finally decide to take a break, not just take a nap.  And that break needed to occur on a regular, weekly basis.  It had to be a “day off” from ministry.

         I understand the pressure of being on-call 24/7.  But I also understand what burn out is.  I also grasp that a tired—no–an exhausted pastor is an ineffective pastor.  A drained pastor, someone who has given and given until there is little left to give, will make mistakes, will not notice spiritual ailments in his flock, will not be as alert and on the defense and offense as is needed to maintain growth in his flock.

         Some pastors I know who have reached the same realization about rest take a day during the week to focus on their personal Sabbath.  Others take a day off occasionally during the month.  Still others take a day off once a quarter.  The ones who do not rest weekly are short-changing themselves, in my opinion.  They’re not actually resting on a sustainable basis.

         Remember that you are not indispensable.  If your congregation collapses because you take a Sabbath’s rest, then you are not leading a church.  You are leading something else completely.  And that something else will not fulfill the call God has placed on your life, because it will demand you take a road that only leads to self-destruction.

         As Jethro might have said to his son-in-law Moses—don’t you have anyone who is wise enough to help you take care of business if you’re not there for one day a week?  Moses needed some relief.  Jesus and the disciples needed some relief.  You need some relief, too.

         Allow me to encourage you to delegate some authority to your leaders while you take a day of rest for your own spiritual, emotional, mental and physical health.  Fight the urge to call them to see if they need you.  Actually set your phone aside.  Observe a Sabbath weekly.  Take a load off your shoulders for a day, and your feet, too.  Take a break!

    Sincerely,

    A Small Church Pastor