Motivation

I think many people believe a pastor should always be motivated to work at his job, because his job is played out as service to God. You know what I agree, and even on the tough days it is that idea of service to God that motivates me.  But that doesn't mean I am always energised and enthusiastic.  Some days I just can't get started, or I wonder why I bother, or if what I am doing is actually going to matter to anyone.

Last Sunday I preached from Matthew 22:34-40 "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all of your soul and with all of your mind."  That's a pretty clear directive for our lives isn't it... and Jesus telling us to do something should be enough to motivate us into action.  But how many of us can actually say that every moment of every day we feel motivated to do that?  Even our Saviour imploring us to love Him with all our hearts isn't enough for us to actually do that without ceasing.

So it goes both ways I guess, we have to recognise that there are times that our motivation fails us and it's part of our human nature - at times as a pastor I have to recognise that some people just are not motivated (because of personal life, current situation, tiredness, spiritual dryness and many other reasons) and to be encouraging and up beat instead of coming across as an old drill Sargent pushing for things to be done.  But also people should realise that sometimes pastors struggle for motivation too, and being upbeat all the time takes a heavy toll, being involved every week takes a heavy toll, and sometimes it means that we just don't feel like doing something (even though I know most of the times pastors will still do it)... it's sometimes the expectation that it will just always be done that drains even more, and people just understanding that sometimes things are tough makes things a bit easier.

Someone posted this on Facebook last night, and though I am not their pastor, it was encouraging to think that people do think like this.  I'm not sure which stats I sit in personally, but they are definitely worthy of thinking about and considering - and wondering how you might be able to care for your pastor this week.