A Pastor once shared an interesting story. One of his Church members felt moved to get him good meals from an eatery after Sunday services. As he approached one of the Associate Pastors to drop the food, the Associate said; “Don’t distract our man of God. He does not need food. He is too focused for this kind of thing.” When the Senior Pastor heard this, he almost cursed that Associate Pastor!

Friend, learn to care of your man of God. The truth is, the pastoral ministry already has its peculiar burden or pain, don’t add to it. Most times, we see Pastors as supermen or superwomen. They don’t eat. They don’t have a family. They don’t have bills to pay. They are not normally affected by what affects others. This is far from the truth. Every man of God is first a man before, a man of God (Hebrews 4:15-16, 5:1).

Lighten the load of your pastor. Look for what you can do to make the work easier and not more burdensome. Some people only share problems with their man of God, they don’t share their joy, testimonies and blessings. I believe that every Pastor who goes through your season of pains with you should also have the privilege to be part of your joy and blessings (1 Corinthians 9:11, Galatians 6:6).

“But Moses’ hands became tired; so they put a stone under him and he took his seat on it, Aaron and Hur supporting his hands…” (Exodus 17:12). Some people are very critical to the assignment of their pastors, you can be one of them. They hold the hands of their man of God. They pray for him. They don’t mock him in his struggles rather they lend a helping hand. They don’t leave him to do the work alone. They find ways to make the work easier. They take up the physical side of his life and ministry so he can focus on the spiritual stuff (Luke 8:3, Acts 6:3-4).

Perhaps, one of the ways to lighten your pastor’s load is to be a correct Church member; don’t give your pastor headache. Don’t be the one that is always absent from Church for no good reason. Don’t be the one he has to correct over and over again. Don’t be the one sowing seeds of discord among the brethren (Proverbs 6:19, 2 Thessalonians 3:6). Don’t be the one always disobeying instructions. Be a correct disciple of his ministry (Acts 4:13, 11:26).

Intentionally decide what part of the work you would like to take up. You can be an Epaphras who labours in prayers (Colossian 4:12). You can be an Epaphroditus who commits his physical strength to the work (Philippians 2:25-30). You can be a Barnabas who makes financial sacrifices to push the work forward (Acts 4:36-37). You can also be all the three as God enables you. Make up your mind to contribute to your pastor’s joy and not add to his pain (Hebrews 13:17).

PS: You can download the soft copy of the quarterly devotional if you have not. Go to www.destinyimpactchurch.org/devotional

© ‘Demola Awoyele
Lead Pastor,
Destiny Impact Church
Akure, Nigeria