Efficiency devotional...Bible reading week 18, day 5

Today is an in between chapter devotional.  We will pick up Lamentations chapter 3 on Monday.

I recently read an interesting article in the Table Talk devotional by Rev. John Starke who is the senior pastor of the Apostles Church Uptown of New York City.  This was in the April 2018 and here is the link to the original article:  https://tabletalkmagazine.com/posts/2018/04/should-pastors-get-things-done/

The Scriptural basis of the article was Ephesians 5:15-17, which reads,

Pay careful attention, then, to how you live -- not as unwise people but as wise -- making the most of the time, because the days are evil.  So don't be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.

Rev. Starke starts off the article with these two sentences:

"We have been born in the age of efficiency.  We are the people who 'get stuff done.'"

He has my attention because I like to be efficient.  I remember in northern Michigan when the price per gallon of gasoline went over $3.00 a gallon and we were 15 miles from town.  We got more efficient and then when it climbed over $4.00 a gallon, I pumped up the tires on the bike and left the car at home.  We made sure that our trips to town included all that we could and we scheduled things so that we were not running back and forth continuously and with 4 children that was a challenge.

Rev. Starke puts the idol of efficiency up along the ministry of the church and namely that of the pastor.  Many times efficiency and ministry do not match up.  I don't know how many hours I have sat in hospitals with families when the work load in my office was not getting done.  I don't know how many hours I have sat with couples going through their marital problems again while my family was waiting for me to come home.  I don't know how many hours I have spent over the 32 years creating 20 minute sermons for only half of the congregation that shows up.  None of this seems that efficient.

With the emergence of technology in our hands, I have actually tried to merge the two with working while at the hospital but it doesn't work.  I guess I even tried that when I would take a book to read or my Bible with a notepad to combine tasks but I really wasn't there for the family at that point.  Rev. Starke goes on to say:

"The requirements of being a pastor include long blocks of time praying, listening, waiting, meditating, and being quiet before the Lord."

I would like to put to rest that old joke that the pastor only works one day a week and really only one hour a week.  I don't even laugh at that anymore because it is so not true.  The pastor and anyone in charge of a ministry invests so much time away from the event.  The scripture passage says to pay careful attention to how we live and to make the most of the time.  So the time I have, even though it seems inefficient in the eyes of the world needs to be clearly attached to the Lord's will.  Many times the Lord's will is to "stop" for a person or situation that is not on our "to do" list or our google calendar for the day.   

I don't know what I would do if I didn't have a list or I didn't have my calendar with me that pushes me from one event to the next but it can be superseded by God's direction.  Things can be pushed back or even erased off the calendar by God if He wishes.  I want to be efficient first with God.  I want to do what He wants me to do and sometimes that isn't on my "to do" list or on my calendar.  What I am asked to do, equipping the saints for ministry as it says in Ephesians 4:12, doesn't always fit into my neatly packaged hour slots and pre planned meetings.

Rev. Starke ends his article with:

"Teaching people to pray, laying hands on the sick, preparing for a sermon, being hospitable, evangelizing, and listening to someone's repentance and then reminding them of grace -- these things don't show up on a spreadsheet.  But they are the very ingredients of spiritual renewal."

Every once in a while I will get one of those week.  I am ahead of the game and actually looking further ahead of what I can do to create some more margin in my life and then it happens.  What is "it"?  The "it" is real ministry.  The "it" are those activities that take up huge amounts of time and soon that buffer I thought I had is no longer there and I am actually behind where I would want to be.  Never fear though.  God seems to know what I need to lay aside and also shows up to help me accomplish what is left on my plate necessary to be done.  

To any ministry leader out there, don't bypass those opportunities that are not on your study schedule or prescribed sessions to experience when ministry happens in an inefficient manner.  Let us pray.

"Lord, how You provide.  You step in and show how Your will will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  You can take our most crammed week and get us through it the right way when we seek Your will instead of our own.  Help us to look at what is ahead of us and make sure You are the One we are serving through it.  Amen."

Pastor Adam