In a Christian culture where so much ministry happens, it’s necessary to take a Sabbath. A regular weekly Sabbath will not only refill your physical, emotional, mental and spiritual tanks, but it will recalibrate you with God. It’s a means by which you realign with the Lord to make sure you are doing what he has called you to do.
But there is another reason why it’s necessary to take a Sabbath. This is something every leader and minister will need to encounter sometime in his or life. At some point in your ministry life you will need to come to terms with this concept. It’s a shift from DOING to BEING. It’s a shift from focusing on what you do to focusing on who you are. This awareness can happen when you slow down from ministry; when you take a regular or extended Sabbath.
In my early years as a Christian, I did eight years of youth ministry followed by eight years of church ministry. These were tough but very rewarding times. Whenever I get together with former ministry partners, we will reminisce about those years…weekly meetings, camps, volleyball season, Christmas Eve services, small groups. A lot of ministry was accomplished and Kingdom expansion happened. But as I mentioned in a previous article, all that ministry, all that go-go-go, without a regular Sabbath, set me up for a huge crash. I left full-time ministry and got a job in downtown Honolulu saying, “I will never go back into full-time ministry again.”
But during that time, the Lord began to work on my heart. I wasn’t doing any ministry but I still loved the Lord. This is when the shift from DOING to BEING began to happen. Up until this point my identity was wrapped around ministry: weekend services, small groups during the week, special events every month. Things needed to get done, people and resources needed to be coordinated, and the lost needed to be saved. I thought this was one of the best ways to be on God’s good side…by doing the Lord’s work. But when the Lord took me out of full-time ministry and placed me in a non-ministry environment, my identity was lost. Or was it?
It was during this time when I took a break from ministry the Lord taught me something very important. The key passage that shifted my thinking from DOING to BEING is found in Matthew 3. Jesus is being baptized by the John the Baptist. When He comes out from the water, the heavens were opened, the Spirit of God descended as a dove and came upon Him, and a voice from the heavens said, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased” (Matthew 3:16-17). Up until this point, Jesus had not done any ministry, He hadn’t healed anyone, He hadn’t gathered His disciples, He hadn’t multiplied any food. Yet the Father was fully pleased with Him. Think about that. No ministry yet the Father was pleased with Jesus.
Another passage that helped me understanding this concept of DOING to BEING is found in Luke 10. While Martha was districted with all the preparations, her sister Mary was seated at the Lord’s feet. Jesus tells Martha, “You are worried and bothered about so many things, but only a few things are necessary, really only one, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:41-42). How many of us find ourselves worried and bothered by all the ministry we need to DO? But Mary chose what was good…to BE with Jesus.
My wife and I enjoy going to high school football games to watch our children perform in the band. Every once in awhile, we’ll just sit by each other and enjoy each other’s company. We’re not saying anything, we’re not eating snacks, we’re not cheering for the touchdowns…we’re just enjoying being by each other. It reminds me of the first year of our children’s lives. When they were a few months old, they just enjoyed being carried. You didn’t have to play with them, you didn’t have to entertain them…they just enjoyed being with mom or dad.
That’s what it’s like to go from DOING to BEING. At the core of one’s relationship with God it isn’t in the DOING of ministry, but in the BEING with the Father. It’s being with the Father, knowing you are fully accepted and fully loved without doing anything. In the busyness of ministry, it’s very easy to miss this. We tend to think that to be on God’s good side we need to be doing ministry. The truth is, we’re already on God’s good side. And all He wants us to do is BE with Him…just like a baby in the arms of a parent.
Sometimes we don’t have good leaders who last because they are about the DOING rather than the BEING.
Questions to Think About:
When was the last time you enjoyed an elongated time BEING with God? If it’s been awhile, is it because you’ve been too busy with ministry?
Do you sometimes feel guilty when you aren’t DOING ministry? Where did this thinking come from?
© Gary Lau 2013
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