Perhaps it’s that I am exhausted now after five long days of mind blowing kids programs at the church (AKA: Vacation Bible School), maybe it’s that ministry is fast paced and I am getting old or maybe it’s just that I am living life to the fullest and it flat wears you out. Any way you look at it, I need a good long sleep.
Yesterday I was sitting on the bed with my kids and wife as we talked about the community barbeque we had at the church. All of a sudden I blurt out, “Don’t do that. It’s too far.” My wife and daughter looked at me with a puzzled look, as I lay there dazed. Evidently I was asleep from all the hard work I have been putting in recently. Sometimes it just hits you. If you are a pastor, I think you know how this is. Things are fast. Furious. Tiring. Sometimes downright exhausting.
Proverbs 4:23
Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.
There is this point in exhaustion where we let our guard down. Maybe it’s the long days and the temptation to crash on the couch and watch the tube, when something comes across and we aren’t prepared. Or maybe it’s the tired eyes on the computer who clicks the ad before thinking about where they are going. Whatever it is, there is no doubt that we are more susceptible to attack when we are tired; when our guard is down.
1 Peter 5:8
Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.
Maybe this is one of those reminders to us all that we need to be on guard at all times. That we need to protect ourselves when we are the most susceptible. Our career, our calling, is never so important to forget who we are and who we are accountable to.