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Table of Contents
Staying Emotionally Healthy
No one following Jesus has ever had a nervous breakdown, and no one doing the will of God has ever gone to pieces. However, ministers can emotionally wreck themselves and ruin their marriage by working for the institutional church.
Here are some things you can do to stay emotionally healthy in the ministry:
1. Practice "Casting all your care upon him; for he cares for you" (1 Peter 5:7, NKJV).
After all, Jesus said this is His church (Matthew 16:18). Catch yourself saying, "My church"; and, "My people." Many things that happen in a church are beyond our control, but not beyond His. This is why He can reassure us, "For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light" (Matthew 11:30).
2. Become aware of the difference between the events of your life and your interpretation of those events.
A brief trip to a courtroom during a trial will teach you there is more than one way to view any set of facts. Lawyers are trained to help people see the same set of facts in different ways. The prosecutor interprets them to make the defendant look guilty. The defense counsel interprets them to protect the innocence of his client.
You live with your interpretation of the events of your life, not with the events. Practice various ways of interpreting them and notice the different feelings each invokes. Develop a habit of placing the most constructive possible interpretation on the daily events of your life.
3. Discipline your thoughts.
Paul provides a practical filter for helping us do this, "Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report, if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things" (Philippians 4:8).
Richard D. Dobbins, Akron, Ohio
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