A minister

of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God which was given to me for you, to fulfill the word of God,  - Colossians 1.25

‘The ministry’ today in some parts of the world has a whole different meaning today than it did in Paul’s day. In big parts of the West being a minister is a prestigious job with CEO salaries and great holidays and health care benefits and fancy clothes and being feted and celebrated and loved and cared for and appreciated. Churches vie for ministers with salary and benefit packages. To be honest, for a lot of the western church being a minister is a pretty good job to have. It is clean, safe, secure, and comfortable job with loads of benefits.

Even being in the ministry without all that is normally okay. We strive to be faithful and serve and most of us in our part of the world don't have to worry a whole lot about our lives being under threat.

It isn't that way for a lot of the world today and it wasn't that way for Paul. In our own comforts we can forget that the ministry is not always like this. It is easy to forget what it literally means to be a minister.

In a word, a minister is a servant.

That can be hard to remember. Sometimes we can think that as the minister folks are to minister to and serve us instead of the other way around.

When I read about Paul it seems like all I read about is his serving. At one time Paul seemed ready to quit, but one thing kept him. He knew that his ministry of service was given to him by the Lord.

God gave Paul, and He gives us, the stewardship of ministry. It is not something we can take lightly. We are all called to be ministers of reconciliation.

The purpose of the service we are called to is clearly stated 'to fulfill the word of God.'

How many of us, especially those of us who are 'ministers,' well and truly see ourselves as first of all servants?  

Our goal, every day, should be to look for people to serve as we serve our Lord.