The success of ministry is not measured by the programs you create. The success of ministry is not measured by a title you have. The success of ministry is not even measured by how full your calendar is. The success of ministry is measured impact of The Life of Christ that is in you being written on the hearts and in the lives and hearts of the people around you.
“Are we beginning to commend ourselves again? Or do we need, like some people, letters of recommendation to you or from you? You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everybody. You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. ” (2 Corinthians 3:1–6, NIV84)
Ministry is always about loving people. Those who minister must love the people they are ministering to. For Paul, those people were “written on our hearts”. Paul was writing to them out of great love. “For I wrote you out of great distress and anguish of heart and with many tears, not to grieve you but to let you know the depth of my love for you. ” (2 Corinthians 2:4, NIV84) True ministry values the people above the minister. True ministry is powered by love that seeks to raise up people even beyond the level of the one ministering. True ministry will lay down its life for the benefit of others. ” I have said before that you have such a place in our hearts that we would live or die with you. ” (2 Corinthians 7:3, NIV84)
Therefore the motivation of our hearts is crucial. Why do we do what we do in the church? Are we seeking ministry to validate our own walk with God? Are we seeking leadership in order to establish our own gifts and callings?
Recognizing true ministry then becomes easy. The outcome of true ministry is the changed and transformed lives of the people we love. Paul said it this way: “You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry.” True ministry happens when our love for God establishes in us a love for people. When that love is present, God’s love for us and for people will empower us to demonstrate the power of God’s Kingdom in the earth. Powered by love, we carry authority to bring light into darkness.
Think about the people around you. Are they transformed by the love in your words and encouraged to pursue God? Are they being built by your actions into more than they were before?
A true minister is made competent by God. “Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life. ” (2 Corinthians 3:5–6, NIV84)he word competency speaks for equipped with power and rendered fit for ministry. We have nothing to give to people except that which we ourselves have received from God.
Therefore, before we can minister to people, we ourselves must be able to receive ministry. We must learn to spend time in the presence of God for the sole purpose of being with God. We must learn to hear from God for the sole purpose of changing our lives. God is the one who makes the minister. Before we minister to others, we must submit ourselves to the ministry of others.
How much time do we spend seeking Him and how much time do spend seeking ministry? How much time do we spend seeking the transformation of others and how much time do we spend seeking our own transformation. Ministry is the natural overflow of a life filled with the Spirit of God. Seek God and not ministry. Seek personal transformation and you will be a light for others to transform.
