Posted by
Doctor Bart on Wednesday, May 21, 2008 9:29:33 PM
Last November I preached a sermon at a Calvary Chapel in Huntington Beach. Using the story of Jethro, Moses' father-in-law as the foundation, I talked about the danger of being overworked and stretched to thin. Moses was spending all day, every day, passing judgment on every issue brought before him both large and small. He was brutally overworked. Jethro told him, in so many words, to knock it off and let other people help.
One of the major points of the message was that there is a natural tendency for the servants of God to get over committed and to get bogged down. It happened to Moses and it happens to a huge number of pastors today.
I have talked to pastors who find themselves having no idea on Friday what they are going to preach on Sunday because they were too busy. I have heard of many pastors whose marriages were on the brink of collapse because they spent too much time at church. There is no question in my mind that a great number of pastors just can’t say “no” nearly enough.
We live in a church culture that encourages this type of behavior. When I was being interviewed for a pastoral job last year the search committee asked me if I saw myself doing much hospital visitation. My answer was a very short “No.” I did not feel it was the senior pastor’s duty to be the person calling on all of the sick people in the church. I felt it would be my job to make sure that someone did visitation, but it was not my job to actually do it. The answer went over like a lead balloon.
It is because of this tendency to over commit that pastors end of seeming flaky and non-responsive. They are so busy engaging in mundane tasks that they neglect what is important.