Offering Enough
/This weekend I led worship, celebrated family day with family, had conversations with people from a previous ministry as I was out in the community and had a long chat with an older friend preparing for a move. As I made dessert for the family gathering and listened on the phone and read my home church’s annual report, I started to wonder - am I offering enough?
Am I offering enough to family with their various needs? Am I giving enough time to people I meet or too much? Am I even approaching a tithe and what is warranted for someone in my position and with the money I make? Am I offering enough?
It’s a good question to ask ourselves every once in a while. There are people who quickly burn themselves out because they give to the point of exhaustion. There are people who need to be needed and are involved in everything. There are people who easily make themselves their priority, rarely stretching beyond their comfort zone. There are people who are quick to pass the buck.
How do we figure out what is enough? If we use Christ as a model, we don’t come close. But we’re also not asked to be a Messiah but to be part of the body of Christ, each of us doing our part to keep it strong. Even Jesus with His three years of very busy ministry frequently found time to be alone and to pray. He accomplished incredible things in a short time but also knew His limits and when He needed to re-charge.
So how do we know if we’re offering enough? A good place to start is to take an honest check of our current giving - emotionally supporting others, volunteer-wise with tasks, extended family responsibilities, finances, and any other way that you give. How much of your time is spent on others? When do you have time for you? How do your current commitments make you feel? Are they life giving or life draining, making you feel tired and used as opposed to fulfilled and useful?
It’s good to take stock every once in a while and to seek balance. Are you caring for your own mental, spiritual and physical needs so that your well is replenished and you have the energy to give to others? Or are you making yourself last priority, sliding into a Messiah complex and perhaps developing an over-inflated sense of how needed you are?
I recently read a facebook post that spoke about how crucial Sabbath is and that we need to regularly unplug from the world and remind ourselves that it will keep spinning without us. The balance of time is important and set by God - 1 day of rest after 6 days of work. Some people perhaps flip that ratio and wonder why their energy is low and they feel lacking in purpose. For those of us in ministry, what is everyone else’s Sabbath is tricky for us to have as ours. We have to make special effort to fit in Sabbath time around worship and leadership commitments on Sundays.
Are you offering enough? If it’s to specific family or other relationships, asking is never a bad idea. Are you doing too much for someone? Are you feeling taken for granted and need to address it? Are there ways to make the relationship more mutually beneficial? Sometimes these conversations are tough, but setting boundaries that keep you healthy is worth the effort.
In all things, it is helpful to bring your concerns to your Maker. Come clean before God, seeking guidance about how to manage and structure your life so that you are in tune with God’s purposes and wishes for you. Many who believe that they never do enough might be surprised that they actually could step back a bit, and many who feel self-satisfied might be challenged to do more to ease the burden on others.
Jesus came to be our servant King, and we are called to follow. May your discernment of what that means for you, day to day, be rich and reassuring, and may God graciously lead you to a place of peace in how you give and serve.