(18) Finding Hope When You Feel Like a Failure

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Where do I find hope and courage
when I feel like a failure in ministry?

It will do us no good to live in a ministry fantasy land expecting our every word about Christ to be met with approval and positive responses. It is just not going to happen. We gain victory over discouragement in ministry when we recognize that the most biblically sound and flawlessly executed ministry will be met with resistance and rejection.

We must remember that successful ministry cannot and should not be measured by a positive response by a large number of people who embrace and approve of it. Biblically this is the exception, not the rule. Successful ministry must be measured in lives that are transformed to greater maturity in Christlikeness.

Our responsibility is to do our best to faithfully fulfill our ministry according to God’s Word, following His lead, and then leave the results to God realizing that there will be some resistance and rejection when God’s Word is taught. “Faithfully fulfill” means doing our best, pursuing excellence, growing and improving, following God’s Word and God’s agenda.

But, perhaps our problem is that the reason we serve in ministry is so that we can get the approval of man, recognition, and praise. This is an unbiblical reason to serve and will regularly result in disappointment and discouragement.

Perhaps when we are discouraged in ministry, the first thing we should look at is our motivation for doing ministry. Are we discouraged because we’re not getting the warm reception and props we’d like to get to boost our ego? Sure, we want to know that we’re not spinning our wheels when we sacrifice time and energy to serve in ministry and an occasional word of thanks or testimony of effectiveness is valuable in evaluating ourselves. But, we must be careful that we only accept compliments for the sake or determining our effectiveness, not for the sake of feeling good about ourselves. The goal of ministry is to lead people to feel good about Jesus and respond to Him, not feel good about ourselves and make us feel good about ourselves.

So, take the compliments when they come as an affirmation that you are doing the right thing and that God is indeed using you, but don’t ever believe the lie that it is because of your greatness. It is only a gift of God’s grace that your are effective at all. And when the compliments are few and far between and the criticisms abundant and frequent, evaluate yourself to make sure you are in fact remaining true to God’s Word, doing what God wants you to do. Assure that you are true to His Word. And keep going, remembering that you are in good company when you face criticism.


Next: (19) Courage to Serve When I Feel Like a Failure