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“Anyone who wants to serve me must follow me, because my servants must be where I am. And the Father will honor anyone who serves me.” John 12:26 (NLT)Monday comes fast, doesn’t it? One minute you’re wrapping up Sunday, and the next minute the week is already asking for you: emails, meetings, crises, sermons, decisions. The danger for pastors usually isn’t abandoning Jesus outright. It’s serving Jesus while quietly living at arm’s length from him.In John 12:26, Jesus doesn’t talk vaguely about serving him. He names the path: “Follow me.” And he names the place: “My servants must be where I am.” Discipleship is less about a program and more about proximity.Here are three simple anchors from John 12:26 that you can carry into the week.1) Spiritual growth is a choice.Jesus starts with desire: “Anyone who wants to serve me…” God doesn’t force intimacy. God invites it.If you feel distant right now, that doesn’t mean God moved. It often means you’ve been carrying weight for a long time. Today you can take one honest step back toward Jesus without pretending you’re fine.2) Spiritual growth is a commitment.Jesus says his servants must follow him. That’s not harsh—it’s clarifying. A disciple can’t follow from the sidelines.Pastoral ministry is full of commitments you keep for other people. Discipleship is the commitment you keep for your own soul. It’s deciding, again and again, that you won’t try to lead on yesterday’s time with Jesus.3) Spiritual growth is a relationship.Jesus says, “My servants must be where I am.” Not where your anxiety is. Not where your inbox is. Not where everyone else’s expectations are. Where he is.Jesus isn’t physically walking beside you today, but he is present and he is accessible. One of the simplest ways to be where he is is to keep an ongoing conversation with him throughout your day. Short prayers. Honest sentences. A breath before you answer. A quiet “Help me” before you walk into the next room.You don’t have to manufacture a spiritual experience. You just have to draw close to Jesus.

“Are not five sparrows sold for two pennies? Yet not one of them is forgotten by God. Indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” Luke 12:6–7 (NIV)Mondays can mess with a pastor’s head.You can be “on” for people all weekend—preaching, praying, greeting, listening, carrying what others drop on you—and then, on Monday morning, it’s quiet. The calendar is full, but you still feel oddly unseen. Not the pastor-title version of you. You.Zacchaeus knew what it was like to be on the outside of the crowd. He wasn’t innocent. He’d made choices that hurt people. He knew exactly what others thought when they saw him. So when Jesus came through Jericho, he did something a respected adult man didn’t do: He ran ahead, climbed a tree, and tried to get a clear look.Then Luke gives us this line:“When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up” (Luke 19:5 NIV).Jesus didn’t just glance around. He stopped. He looked up into the branches and saw the person everyone else had already decided how to label. And he said Zacchaeus’ name out loud.Pastor, if you’re carrying something today you haven’t said to anyone—something you’re ashamed of, tired of, scared of, or just too worn out to explain—don’t turn this into an abstract truth. Hear it personally:Jesus knows where you are.You are not misfiled in heaven. You are not lost in the noise. You are not “fine” just because you’re functioning.Luke 12 says God doesn’t forget sparrows. God doesn’t lose track of the smallest, most easily overlooked thing. And if that’s true, then God is not losing track of you. The hairs on your head are numbered, not because God is counting, but because God is attentive.Before you give yourself away again today, pause long enough to let Jesus “look up” at you. Let that be real. Let it land.And then, because you shepherd people in Jesus’ name, do what you saw him do.Look up.

Pastor, one of the hardest parts of ministry is living with the gap between what you pray for and what you see. You know what your church could be, and you long to see your people grow deeper. But no matter how much progress you make, ministry keeps putting you face to face with weakness, need, and disappointment.If you’re going to last in ministry, you have to learn how to handle disappointment.Exodus 15 shows that clearly. Israel had just come through the Red Sea, and God had delivered them in dramatic fashion. It was a huge victory. But three days later, they were in the desert without water, and when they finally found water at Marah, it was bitter.That is often how ministry works.Great successes are often followed by failure.Exodus 15 says, “Moses led Israel away from the Red Sea into the desert of Shur. For three days they traveled in the desert without finding water. When they came to Marah, they couldn’t drink the water because it tasted bitter. That’s why the place was called Marah [Bitter Place]” (Exodus 15:22–23 GW).The same people who had just been singing were now complaining. In just a few days, Moses went from celebration to criticism.That pattern did not stop with Moses. Elijah stood on Mount Carmel and saw one of the greatest victories in Scripture, only to end up exhausted, afraid, and ready to quit. Joshua saw the walls of Jericho fall, and then watched Israel get humiliated at Ai.That is a lesson every leader has to remember. After Jericho often comes Ai. After the Red Sea often comes Marah.Pastor, you need to expect this. If you don’t, disappointment will catch you off guard. But if you understand it, it will steady you.A hard day after a great day does not mean God has left you. It means you are doing ministry in the real world.Marah is any bitter place in ministry.Marah means “bitter,” and every pastor has a Marah sooner or later. Marah is any hard, uncomfortable, disappointing moment that leaves a bitter taste in your mouth after a good season or a meaningful win.You have a strong Sunday, and then a key leader resigns. You launch something new, and criticism starts. You pour yourself into people, and instead of gratitude, you get complaints.That was Moses’ experience. He had led the people out of Egypt and watched God part the sea, but the people still grumbled against him when life got hard. Few things sting more in ministry than being criticized by people you were honestly trying to help.God uses disappointments to test what’s in us.Exodus 15:25 says God was testing the Israelites: “There he tested them” (GW). Marah was not outside God’s plan. He led Israel through the Red Sea, and he also let them face bitter water.Why? Because the big public victories show God’s power, but the bitter moments show what is in us. At the Red Sea, God’s greatness was on display. At Marah, Israel’s heart was on display.The same is true for you and me. Your character is not mainly tested in your biggest public wins. It is tested in the quiet frustrations, the small irritations, and the letdowns that wear you out afterward.Do you still trust God when the water is bitter? Do you still obey when people complain? Do you still lead when gratitude disappears?That is the test. Disappointment has a way of exposing our reactions, our motives, and our maturity. It often shows us what success can cover up.Don’t be surprised by disappointment.Pastor, if you have just come through a Red Sea, do not be shocked when a Marah shows up. Do not assume something is wrong simply because ministry got hard right after it got good. That is often how leadership works.The enemy loves to follow spiritual victory with discouragement, and life in a fallen world has a way of following celebration with challenge. So after a big day, guard your heart. After a breakthrough, expect resistance.And instead of letting disappointment make you cynical, be ready for it.Remember what disappointment can never change. Marah was real, but it was not the end of the story. The bitter water was not final, because God was still leading and still able to give his people exactly what they needed.That is true for you too. Psalm 34:18 says, “The LORD is close to the brokenhearted; he rescues those whose spirits are crushed" (NLT).Your disappointment is not wasted, and your Marah is not proof that God is distant.It may be the very place where he reminds you how near he really is.

Pastor, have you noticed how easy it is for your dreams to shrink over time?You didn’t start ministry with a small vision. But pressure, disappointment, and criticism sometimes shrink your dreams. The Living Bible paraphrase says, “Now glory be to God, who by his mighty power at work within us is able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of—infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes” (Ephesians 3:20).Over the years, I’ve noticed you can often tell where someone is in ministry by how they relate to dreaming. I think you can categorize people into ministry in five areas.As you read, don’t rush past these ideas. Just ask, Where am I right now? Then ask, What would a faithful next step look like this week?1. Those with no dreamFor many people, their only goal in life is just to make it through the day—just to make it home.Pastor, this can happen in ministry without you even noticing. You are not lazy. You are carrying a lot. But when your only goal becomes survival, you start living from crisis to crisis instead of leading with faith.One time Jesus came to a man on the side of the street and said, “What do you want me to do for you?” (Mark 10:51 NLT). That’s a good place to start again when it comes to your ministry dreams.There are three results when you don’t have a dream:Frustration: You move from crisis to crisis, reacting instead of acting.Boredom: It gets hard to see why you should get up in the morning.Regrets: You start collecting “if only…” thoughts.Don’t overcomplicate your next step. If this is you, set aside 15 quiet minutes this week and answer this in one sentence: “What do I want God to do in me, and through our church, this year?”If that’s you right now, don’t be embarrassed. Just be honest—and start there.2. Those who have a low dreamA lot of pastors drift into this without meaning to. The dream sounds sensible. It sounds safe. But it doesn’t stretch your faith.Why do we do this? Three reasons:Dreams make us accountable. The moment you say it, the pressure is on.Fear of failure. You think, What if I don’t achieve it?Fear of criticism. Others may laugh. They may misunderstand your motives.So here’s the place to start: Get honest about what you’re afraid of.Take 10 minutes and finish this sentence: “I fear ___________ when I think of chasing a bolder vision.”Then ask yourself: What would a dream look like that is realistic, but still requires faith?If that’s you, you don’t need a flashy vision statement. You just need one step that requires faith.3. Those who have the wrong dreamPastor, before you invest your life in the attainment of a certain dream, you need to find out if what you want is worthwhile.A lot of people spend years climbing the ladder of success, only to get above the clouds and realize the ladder is leaning against the wrong wall.And I have to tell you, one of the tragedies I see in church life is this: People with tremendous talent, tremendous ability, and tremendous potential giving their first-class allegiance to a second-class cause.Some day you will stand before the Lord and he will say, “What did you do with your life?” That’s why you have to be careful here.There is one dream that is never worth investing your life in: trying to impress other people. It just isn’t worth it.So slow down long enough to ask two questions:Who am I trying to impress?If nobody applauded this, would I still believe it was from God?4. Those who have a vague dreamPastor, this one is more common than you might think.You may have a great desire: I want to use my life in serving God. I want to give my life for God. I want to make my life count. But you’re still vague about the specifics. You’ve never really thought it through and written down something that says, “This is what I’m going to do with my life. This is where I’m going to pour my energy.”Jesus was the most goal-directed person who ever lived. When he was 12 years old, he already knew where he was going. He said, “I must be about my Father’s business” (Luke 2:49 KJV).And at the end of his life, he said, “It is finished!” (John 19:30 NLT). Those are bookends of a successful life!So here’s your next step if your dream feels blurry: Write it down.Take 10 minutes and finish this sentence: “In this season, I believe God wants me to focus on  . . . ”5. Those with God’s dreamThis is the pastor who knows where he’s headed because he’s gotten a dream from God.That doesn’t mean the dream is loud. It doesn’t mean it’s easy. And it doesn’t mean it’s instantly clear. Most of the time, God gives you what I call a “Polaroid vision.” You stand there watching it develop, and over time it gets clearer and clearer.But you do know this much: You’re not just trying to impress people. You’re not just trying to survive. You’re not just chasing something safe. You’re trying to do the will of God.And when that’s your goal, you stop asking, “What’s the easiest thing?” and you start asking the right question: “What is God’s will?”You don’t have to figure out your whole future. You’ve just got to get quiet enough to hear the next step. Because God is “able to do far more than we would ever dare to ask or even dream of—infinitely beyond our highest prayers, desires, thoughts, or hopes.” So don’t settle for no dream. Don’t settle for a low dream. Don’t chase the wrong dream. Don’t live with a vague dream.Ask God for his dream.Then take one step of obedience.