The curious thing about ministry is, we dedicate vast sums of our time, treasures and talents to “doing” God’s work. We feel a deep sense of purpose in the doing, a deep sense of accomplishment as we lay our hand to the plow.

Then we look back and judge our accomplishments and a seed of doubt and disappointment seeps in as we spot flaws in our work, or outcomes that we never would have expected. Discouragement is a killer of joy and contentment; it leaves us susceptible to the accusations of the devil, who wants that seed of discouragement to become a formidable swamp in our lives that we can’t break out of.

So this brings us back to ministry.

You—like I, no doubt—have forsaken some of the allure of worldly treasures in order to do God’s work. It could be through teaching a class, sweeping a walkway, or taking the time to demonstrate the grace of God’s love to a pre-Christian. I trust wherever God has you, that you have righteously labored and know full well that all ministry efforts do not always accomplish what you expected.

Perhaps you expected more from the Sunday School class, you expected folks to keep that walkway clean, and you expected that pre-

Christian to at least show some interest in Jesus. All of those unmet expectations—if you aren’t careful and prayerful—will turn into the tenacious upstarts of the swamp of discouragement.

Might you find comfort in going back to one of the “first” things we believed in: we believed in our brokenness and in Christ’s sufficiency alone to restore us to wholeness. You see, the gospel is a bold

Village MissionsPO Box 197

Dallas OR 97338800.617.9905

villagemissions.org

Village Missions CanadaPO Box 3400

Mission BC V2V 4J5866.885.3885

villagemissions.ca

The curious thing about ministry is, we dedicate vast sums of our time, treasures and talents to “doing” God’s work. We feel a deep sense of purpose in the doing, a deep sense of accomplishment as we lay our hand to the plow.

Then we look back and judge our accomplishments and a seed of doubt and disappointment seeps in as we spot flaws in our work, or outcomes that we never would have expected. Discouragement is a killer of joy and contentment; it leaves us susceptible to the accusations of the devil, who wants that seed of discouragement to become a formidable swamp in our lives that we can’t break out of.

So this brings us back to ministry.

You—like I, no doubt—have forsaken some of the allure of worldly treasures in order to do God’s work. It could be through teaching a class, sweeping a walkway, or taking the time to demonstrate the grace of God’s love to a pre-Christian. I trust wherever God has you, that you have righteously labored and know full well that all ministry efforts do not always accomplish what you expected.

Perhaps you expected more from the Sunday School class, you expected folks to keep that walkway clean, and you expected that pre-

Christian to at least show some interest in Jesus. All of those unmet expectations—if you aren’t careful and prayerful—will turn into the tenacious upstarts of the swamp of discouragement.

Might you find comfort in going back to one of the “first” things we believed in: we believed in our brokenness and in Christ’s sufficiency alone to restore us to wholeness. You see, the gospel is a bold

Village MissionsPO Box 197

Dallas OR 97338800.617.9905

villagemissions.org

Village Missions CanadaPO Box 3400

Mission BC V2V 4J5866.885.3885

villagemissions.ca

declaration that if we put all of our good works together, all of our accomplishments, all of our ministry success, we would still fall desperately short (Romans 3:23) and be exposed as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6).

The gospel never ends there, though. In fact it begins there. The gospel declares it is not my righteousness, but Christ’s alone that brings forth restoration. And so, on our knees we express faith that it is no longer I who does God’s work, it is Christ who lives in me that accomplishes what God would purpose to be done. It is that faith in the sufficiency of Christ that cuts down the quagmire of the swamp of disappointment.

You and I have been commissioned to continue in the work of the ministry and might we never be tempted to nullify the grace of God that assures us it is not through our successes but rather through our obedience that we find a sense of purpose and accomplishment.

The Weeks family serve in Arago, OR: a small town with a population of 150. Cows out number people as their neighbors! Noble and Megan have three children ages 16, 14, and 10. Noble surrendered a successful career in law enforcement to preach God’s grace with Village Missions 5 1/2 years ago.

declaration that if we put all of our good works together, all of our accomplishments, all of our ministry success, we would still fall desperately short (Romans 3:23) and be exposed as filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6).

The gospel never ends there, though. In fact it begins there. The gospel declares it is not my righteousness, but Christ’s alone that brings forth restoration. And so, on our knees we express faith that it is no longer I who does God’s work, it is Christ who lives in me that accomplishes what God would purpose to be done. It is that faith in the sufficiency of Christ that cuts down the quagmire of the swamp of disappointment.

You and I have been commissioned to continue in the work of the ministry and might we never be tempted to nullify the grace of God that assures us it is not through our successes but rather through our obedience that we find a sense of purpose and accomplishment.

The Weeks family serve in Arago, OR: a small town with a population of 150. Cows out number people as their neighbors! Noble and Megan have three children ages 16, 14, and 10. Noble surrendered a successful career in law enforcement to preach God’s grace with Village Missions 5 1/2 years ago.