Three words for your hard day

Odds are a good percentage of you are at a hard time. The pandemic numbers are back up and the attendance numbers back down. You are working hard but feel like your leaders are not appreciating it. You are getting pushback when you deal with the sinfulness of the morally declining culture we are living in. “That person” is still on you about every little thing. You are worn down by hearing about everyone else’s troubles, aches, heartaches, and pains. You feel like you are mismatched with the congregation you are with. The weight of ministry has you feeling like your “todo list” is overwhelming. You are tired, maybe even depressed. The mugginess of a long hot summer has drained your strength. The malaise of distracted brethren is in your head. It happens.

It happens to the best of us. Even our champions feel it: “…we ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure…We are pressed on every side by troubles, but we are not crushed. We are perplexed, but not driven to despair. We are hunted down, but never abandoned by God. We get knocked down, but we are not destroyed. Through suffering, our bodies continue to share in the death of Jesus…” (2 Corinthians 4:7-10 NLT). On some level you can identify with Paul in this. 

Can I plant a reminder of three words to carry in your head and heart this week as you deal with the stresses and strains of ministry? Three words that are a salve to our souls. I’m not being simplistic or in denying your challenging when I say these are three words that will make every burden less burdensome, every weight less weighty, ever step lighter and every breath easier. 

Jesus is Lord. Those three words changed the world and changed my world and can change your day. Those three words make all the difference in the world. So are you enter the fray called today, remember, Jesus is Lord.

“…every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Philippians 2:11, KJV).