It’s so subtle. It’s such an easy, almost unconscious switch that happens. Jesus changes your life and calls you to ministry. You are in love with Jesus and all that He is and so grateful for what He’s done. And then you go into “ministry”. And you learn about leadership. And you have to sharpen your skills. And you memorize the verses. And you become a professional. And out of a good desire to see others experience Jesus, somewhere along the journey you substitute passion for Jesus for passion for ministry success. It’s so subtle and sneaky, but now you’re not living for Jesus, but your living for people to say “Wow! You have such an anointing!!” Ministry success becomes the real god you serve and Jesus is who you use to get there. You pray to get anointing so you can be successful. You think of great sermon illustrations that will wow listeners so you can get even more listeners. You read the Bible to get messages, to see new angles that you can preach on to wow people. On the surface, it actually looks like you are doing exactly what you’re supposed to do! And yet the reality is that you have completely strayed from a pure and simple devotion to Christ. You’ve stopped desiring to just “be with Jesus”. Your heart is dry, your soul is dying, but you couldn’t possibly slow down because “God called you to this.” Actually, no He didn’t. He called you to intimacy with Jesus. He called you to follow Christ. The rest is garbage. It’s time to throw down the idol of ministry success. Flee the trap of the enemy! You’ve been deceived and you’ve fallen in love with another: the praise of men. Repent! Do the things you did at first! Run back to Jesus. Fall in love with Him again! Stop being “balanced” and become passionate about Jesus Christ again.
The idol of Ministry