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Losing Apart of Myself
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I heard it said recently that every time you do ministry, you lose apart of yourself. You can't give, without something being taken from you.
Mark 5 is a great example.
Sandwiched into an account of Jairus' daughter who Jesus is eventually going to heal (Mark 5:21-24, 35-43), comes the account of woman who is diseased, walks up to Jesus, touches his cloak and is healed. Take a look:
Mark 5:24b–34 (ESV)
24 And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. 25 And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, 26 and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. 27 She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. 28 For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” 29 And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. 30 And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?” 31 And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’ ” 32 And he looked around to see who had done it. 33 But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. 34 And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”
If you notice, Jesus and the woman are the only ones who know something happened. Everyone thinks Jesus is crazy because He's wondering who touched Him in a crowd who is "thronging around Him." Something happened in Jesus. Something left. Something was gone.
Ministry takes from you.
And many times you have to search for a return to break even, let alone to have steam to move forward. Which is why we have to make sure that as those who do ministry, we are constantly having a steady intake in order to be able to give out well.
Simple mathematics let's us know. You can only give so much before you have nothing more to give. Give adding, keep giving. Stop adding, soon you'll no longer be able to give.
Some of us have plenty to give. We can give and give and give and never add unto ourselves. Don't let the deception that you still have something to give, keep you have having more to stock up. Stock up. Drink deep.
Jesus had an encounter with another woman that helps to shed more light.
John 4:10-14 (ESV)
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” ... 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
Drink deep. In the words of my friend, Jared Anderson, in the words of his friend, the most interesting man in the world, "Stay thirsty my friends." For in staying thirsty, we never thirst again.
Mark 5 is a great example.
Sandwiched into an account of Jairus' daughter who Jesus is eventually going to heal (Mark 5:21-24, 35-43), comes the account of woman who is diseased, walks up to Jesus, touches his cloak and is healed. Take a look:
Mark 5:24b–34 (ESV)
24 And a great crowd followed him and thronged about him. 25 And there was a woman who had had a discharge of blood for twelve years, 26 and who had suffered much under many physicians, and had spent all that she had, and was no better but rather grew worse. 27 She had heard the reports about Jesus and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his garment. 28 For she said, “If I touch even his garments, I will be made well.” 29 And immediately the flow of blood dried up, and she felt in her body that she was healed of her disease. 30 And Jesus, perceiving in himself that power had gone out from him, immediately turned about in the crowd and said, “Who touched my garments?” 31 And his disciples said to him, “You see the crowd pressing around you, and yet you say, ‘Who touched me?’ ” 32 And he looked around to see who had done it. 33 But the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came in fear and trembling and fell down before him and told him the whole truth. 34 And he said to her, “Daughter, your faith has made you well; go in peace, and be healed of your disease.”
If you notice, Jesus and the woman are the only ones who know something happened. Everyone thinks Jesus is crazy because He's wondering who touched Him in a crowd who is "thronging around Him." Something happened in Jesus. Something left. Something was gone.
Ministry takes from you.
And many times you have to search for a return to break even, let alone to have steam to move forward. Which is why we have to make sure that as those who do ministry, we are constantly having a steady intake in order to be able to give out well.
Simple mathematics let's us know. You can only give so much before you have nothing more to give. Give adding, keep giving. Stop adding, soon you'll no longer be able to give.
Some of us have plenty to give. We can give and give and give and never add unto ourselves. Don't let the deception that you still have something to give, keep you have having more to stock up. Stock up. Drink deep.
Jesus had an encounter with another woman that helps to shed more light.
John 4:10-14 (ESV)
10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.” ... 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”
Drink deep. In the words of my friend, Jared Anderson, in the words of his friend, the most interesting man in the world, "Stay thirsty my friends." For in staying thirsty, we never thirst again.
