I don’t remember anyone ever asking me that, but the answer to it says a lot about how our ministries are going.

In the past few months the Lord has convicted me more than ever about the inseparable connection between my own spirituality and my work as a preacher. Having a close relationship with Jesus is crucial for every Christian, of course, but there’s a sense in which we preachers must watch it even more carefully.

In today’s blog I will share some thoughts about the importance of spiritual formation in our lives and recommend a book that I recently finished. Our spirituality is a topic that is absolutely essential to our work but neglected by all of us at some point. Some of our work is observable. People know if we visit the hospital, they can tell if we prepare for our sermons, and they know if we’re accessible to the members, but no one ever asks how many hours we prayed last week.

But the answer to that question matters more than any hour of sermon preparation or any hospital visit. Here’s why:

Jesus is why we do what we do.

This isn’t a job or profession for us, and we didn’t choose this life for the money. We don’t do it to climb a ladder or make a name for ourselves, and we didn’t pick it because it’s an easy way to make a living.

We’re preaching because of Jesus. Because He gave up heaven’s glory to become a slave. Because God became a man and offered Himself as our substitute on the cross. And because the whole world needs Him more than it needs the fool’s gold it’s chasing.

But somewhere along the road we can forget that. We start thinking about career advancement or retirement funds or name recognition. We start wanting to please our congregations more than the Lord.

Because of that—because we’re subject to the world’s seduction like everyone else—we need daily time with Jesus so He can remind us why we’re doing what we’re doing.

It’s hard to lead people somewhere that we’re not.

Inscribed in a podium that I’ve preached behind hundreds of times is this reminder: “Sir, we wish to see Jesus.” Our goal as preachers is to draw people into the Lord’s presence and help them love Him more than anything in the world.

But we should remember that it’s hard for us to show Him to people if we don’t spend much intentional time with Him. I’ve tried it, and it doesn’t work.

Remember Moses’ face when he came down from Sinai? It might not be as obvious as a shining face, but we need to climb the mountain ourselves if we want to help people see the face of God. It does little good to point to the mountain and tell people to climb. We’ve got to walk ahead of them.

We can’t fake it.

Well, we can, but not for long. Manufacturing enthusiasm doesn’t work well and doesn’t last.

We’re not salesmen, and this illustration is inadequate, but successful salesmen believe in their product. They’re convinced that it works.

We’re persuading people about something infinitely more important.

How was God able to use the apostle Paul to change the world? Because of his eloquence and magnetic personality? He apparently had neither, but he was sold on Christ. The gospel turned the world upside down within a few decades of the Lord’s death, not because its preachers had learned the latest homiletical technique or church growth strategy, but because they loved the Lord enough to die for His cause. Our passion for Christ will overcome our other deficiencies.

He will sustain us on the dark days.

Stay in ministry long enough and you’ll have times when you wish you were doing something else. Maybe anything else.

What keeps you going on those days (or weeks or months)? You need something more substantial than feelings and a sometimes vague conviction that this is what God wants for you.

That’s when you need be close to the Lord more than ever. He is the One who led us into this, and He is what will keep us going.

Recommended resource:

Leading God’s People: Wisdom from the Early Church for Today by Christopher A. Beeley**

One part of this book particularly convicted me. In a section on the preacher’s spirituality, Beeley alluded to an illustration from Gregory of Nyssa: “What does it matter how magnificent the aqueduct is for those who are thirsty, if there is no water in it? What the church needs is fresh spring water, even if it flows through a wooden pipe” (p. 29).

Helpful quotations:

  • “Contrary to what we may expect, the most powerful and practical resource that church leaders have at their disposal, week in and week out, is their own knowledge and experience of God. The most valuable asset for pastoral ministry is one’s own spirituality” (pp. 29–30).
  • “Yet how easy it can be, in the busyness of active ministry, to overlook our most central work, which is to know and love God, so that we may adequately feed others” (p. 30).
  • “Who would think of teaching a musical instrument . . . without first learning how to play? Or who would presume to captain a ship who hasn’t first handled the oar, taken the helm, and had some experience of the wind and sea?” (p. 31, alluding to Gregory the Great).

Personal reflection:

All of us in ministry need to step back often from the pressures of ministry and ask:

  • How’s my walk with Jesus?
  • How’s my devotional life?
  • In the last week, how many days did I pray fervently to the Lord?
  • How often am I reading the Bible just to commune with the Lord and not to prepare for a class or sermon?

Paul told Timothy to “Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching” (1 Timothy 4:16 esv), and he put them in that order for a reason. Sometimes it’s tempting to think a lot about what we say and how we say it but not as much about how God is shaping us spiritually.

Let’s commit ourselves to the most important part of our ministries: that time every day where we reconnect to the One who enables us to fulfill what He has put us here to do.

*My recommendation of this book should not be understood as a wholesale endorsement of all of its contents.

*By “Early Church,” Beeley is referring to the post-apostolic church.