Long live the workers!
Every now and then I hear those in full-time ministry or others aspiring to it make comments that infer that believers who work in regular employment are not as committed to the Lord, are unspiritual, or have an inferior calling.
What nonsense!
While it could be argued that there is no more sobering call than to preach God’s Word and live of the Gospel, every calling of the believer is sacred.
In fact, if it were not for the vast majority of believers who worked all week in secular employment then ‘full-time’ pastors or missionaries would almost be wiped from the earth. They would be forced to do tent-making work themselves at great cost to the effectiveness of their ministries.
When one considers the premium God’s Word places on faithfulness, the truth is that if a believer is faithful to God, loves and provides for his or her family, and is a good testimony at work: they have done practically all that God requires of them in this life.
Besides this, only a small percentage of believers will ever enter full-time service, and that is often determined by the size of the churches they serve. While there is a recognised need for more labourers to enter the harvest, only more believers will be able to finance those labourers going forth.
So those in full-time ministry should regularly thank God for their working flocks. It is because they get up and go to work on Monday morning (often after a busy Lord’s day) that he is free to labour in the Word and doctrine.
Those in regular employment should thank God and pray for their leaders who have withdrawn from what is usually a career path with much better financial rewards to feed and tend for the sheep.
Let each one remain in the same calling in which he was called. 1 Cor 7:20
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Amen. Great point Rob.
Thanks for your post. It was encouraging. =)
Thank you for posting this, Rob. I agree–Long Live the Workers!
thanks Jane, we will try and keep all our workers at TBC healthy so we can keep supporting our diligent missionaries:)