Volunteering is a pain!

In Philippians 4:4 the Apostle Paul writes: "Rejoice, and again I tell you rejoice." It seems he thinks that life as a follower of Christ out to be one that makes praise just naturally flow to our lips.

And yet, as I travel the byways of our congregation's life, I often find people who are deeply involved in the church's activities, organizations and life that are finding it really hard to rejoice.

On first inspection one might think that there was something wrong with their spiritual lives, that maybe their prayers were going awry or their didn't really like worship any more.

But a closer look revels different information. While their spiritual lives may be in a rocky place because of what life is throwing at them, often the real source of joylessness is what they are doing in ministry.

Volunteering is making them blue! That can happen for lots of reasons, but one of the biggest ones is that what they are doing as volunteers no longer inspires them, no longer pulls at their heart strings, no longer gives them meaning and purpose; it has instead become difficult, tedious, and energy draining.

But...folks don't want to give us doing what they have been doing, usually because of fear; fear that the ministry will stop, fear that this will mean they have failed, fear that people will think less of them, fear that they will not find another ministry that will thrill them.

So they continue to do ministry that is making them miserable, and truth be known, often making the people around them miserable too!

Let me be clear. God has not called you to any ministry that makes you miserable. God has not called you to any ministry that you dread. God has called you to rejoice in Him, so there will be challenges in ministry, so that you through him can overcome. But if you are not happy doing what you are doing in ministry right now, do what the firemen teach you when your clothes are on fire! Stop! Drop! And roll!

That's it! Stop - what you are doing for God's kingdom. Don't worry, God will deal with that in God's own way! Drop - to your knees and ask God humbly and happily what you are supposed to be doing. God has new plans for you. Quit being so busy you can't listen!

And roll, get that flexibility and joy back in your life by rolling on over to a new place and a new calling in life. Let God take you and lead you by the hand to a new ministry that will thrill you! Learn how to pray again by being in a place and doing a thing that scares you, not bores you. Meet new people, learn new skills, change your church address and open your heart again to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

And learn what means to rejoice. And again I say, rejoice!