ministry and love

there’s a greater tendency to see people as targets for ministry, rather than as people in need of ministry.. it’s a fine balance between being caught up in ministering to people and really being a friend, genuinely concerned for people in need of God’s touch... every phone call to someone who’s discouraged/ troubled now doesn’t seem like a wrong thing to do/ a waste of time… but justified by the idea of “doing God’s work”, and the opportunities to pray with/ for the other person... 

the problem comes when i start questioning why i’m being concerned for a particular person… strip away any call from God/ obligations as a leader/ anything remotely to do with my faith, would i genuinely care for the other person because i want to care for her/him? hmm… does it make the other person any less human by now seeing her/him through tinted glasses of ministry? no…it shldn’t… 

therefore pray for the right attitude and service that springs out of a true heart of compassion and humility... not out of righteous pride that i’m doing the right thing… and also learn to appreciate the good points and the individual nature of each person whom i’m ministering to…