31 Days to Become a Better Pastor: Seek After God
You have likely noticed that during safety demonstrations by airlines that the stewardess always tells the passengers that in case of emergency they need to put the oxygen on themselves before helping another. The reason for this is that if you pass out from lack of oxygen, you are of no help to others.
There is an important lesson for pastors here. Many pastors have a heart of others and easily put the needs of others before their own. This is noble but there is one area in which we need to be selfish and that is our relationship with God.
Working on our relationship with God cannot be something we do only if an unexpected break opens up in our ministry schedule. Time with God must be a priority and it should not be seen as a distraction from our real work. How are we ever going to feed people spiritually if we are starving ourselves?
We probably are aware of this even if it is not happening. Spiritual growth, even for a pastor, doesn’t happen by accident. We need to be intentional and build practices that will help us to grow. Don’t just copy what you see another pastor is doing. Find out what works for you. I recommend Sacred Pathways: Discover Your Soul’s Path to God by Gary Thomas a good resource on this topic.
If we want to be better pastors, we need to begin by working on our relationship with God.
