Pastoral Maturity

"A mature pastor does not treat his church as a reckless roll of the dice, but he is sincerely open to a searching and substantive reformation of that church. Every pastor is wise to ask, "What is there in our church that is worth protecting at all costs?" Some things are, but not everything is.

"If you are a church leader and you have settled down in your ministry, grinding out a boring routine and picking up a regular paycheck and holding on until retirement, your problem is not a lack of opportunity. Your problem is that you've lost sight of the glory of Jesus. You've settled for something less. You need to repent of every inferior glory and serve your Lord again with joyful abandon."

From Ray Ortlund's The Gospel.

From what place do we face ministry and the things we have been called to do? Security? Adventure? Struggle? Money? Let us determine to have the glory of Jesus as our foundation, motivation and joy.

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