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Almost everyone knows someone who used to be in the ministry.

Some opt out for health reasons. Some wash out in their private lives. Some bow out, realizing they had misread the call of God. Some bail out because the stress is so great. Some are forced out by their churches. Some walk out from sheer frustration and a sense of failure. And if you haven't given serious thought to leaving the ministry, you haven't been in it very long.

Ministers may get ruined by money, either by the desire for it or the lack of it. They make far too many choices based upon getting more money, or else they smolder in their attitude toward the church because they don't get paid enough.

Ministers may get ruined by sex. When surveyed, 25 to 35 percent of ministers admit they are involved in inappropriate sexual behavior at some level. Even when it seems to be unknown to others, a preoccupation with sex or pornography so absorbs their attention that the true spiritual impact of their ministries is ruined.

Ministers may get ruined by power. They become authoritarian. They may not have even started out that way; perhaps they got that way because they were so faithful in one place of ministry for so long and the sin came upon them gradually.

Ministers may get ruined by pride. The greater the influence God gives them, the greater they become in their own sight, and the more they believe they deserve the influence.

Ministers may get ruined by cynicism. When they deal week in and week out with people who claim to be Christians but often don't act like it, when those who are supposed to be God's people talk about them and treat them worse than those in the world do, when they've ministered for years and see little apparent fruit in the lives of those they've given their life for, it's easy to become cynical. No one's testimony thrills them anymore. No book motivates them. No sermon moves them.

Ministers may get ruined by success. They become CEOs, not shepherds. They become managers, not ministers. Their model is business rather than family.

How do we avoid ruin?

Paul wrote to Timothy—and God to us—in 1 Timothy 4:15-16, "Take pains with these things; be absorbed in them, so that your progress will be evident to all."

What are "these things" which, if we "take pains" with them, our "progress will be evident to all?" In the larger context, "these things" are all the things Paul has written about in this first letter to Timothy, and ultimately in all three Pastoral Epistles. In the immediate context it is the discipline Paul commends to every minister in 4:6-16. And these are summarized in verse 16: "Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching; persevere in these things, for as you do this you will ensure salvation both for yourself and for those who hear you."

Don't let the ministry keep you from Jesus

You might be thinking, "How could this happen? My whole life is built around Jesus. Not only am I living for him in general, but I have given myself to study his Word and minister to his people and do the work of building up his kingdom every day. How could the ministry of Jesus keep me from Jesus?"

Remember, that this command, "Pay close attention to yourself" was first written to a minister. And we refer to 1 & 2 Timothy and Titus as the Pastoral Epistles because they are God-given instructions to those in the ministry, and then applicable to every other Christian. So the Apostle Paul instructed Timothy, his younger protégé in the ministry to pay close attention to himself precisely because it is so easy as a minister not to pay close attention to yourself and to be spiritually ruined by the ministry.

The ministry keeps you from Jesus when it keeps you from hearing from Jesus. But remember that "the ministry" is "the ministry of the Word" (Acts 6:4). There is no real ministry apart from the Scriptures, for the Scriptures are the Lord speaking to us. And when you don't have time to sit at the Master's feet and hear what he says to you through his Word, something is keeping you from Jesus. And how can ministers regularly speak for Jesus with power without regularly hearing from Jesus?

The ministry also keeps you from Jesus when it keeps you from talking to Jesus. Are you still a person of prayer? If you don't have time for unhurried, long-lasting time with Jesus, your life is not only too busy and too complex, chances are you are being deceived. Paul wrote of this concern to the Corinthian Christians when he said, "But I am afraid that, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ" (2 Corinthians 11:3).

But paying close attention to your spiritual life is only half the warning of this verse. There are some who maintain a devotional life of great piety whose effectiveness can be ruined in a different way. Ministers will also be ruined by the ministry if they don't, as verse 16 also says, "Pay close attention to . . . your teaching." And so I plead with ministers . . .

Don't let the ministry keep you from learning

When the text says, "Pay close attention to yourself and to your teaching," the Greek word is didaskalia, which means "teaching, instruction, or doctrine." That's why some translations render it as "Pay close attention to your doctrine." If you're going to do that, you have to keep learning doctrine and learning the things of God. So my second appeal to ministers is: don't let the ministry keep you from learning.

When ministers are in formal training for the ministry, they are immersed in learning. But the day they walk out of the classroom and into a church ministry full-time it's just the opposite. Now you are like wells and everyone in the world is a bucket. Everyone has needs and demands, and every few days they come back expecting another sermon, another lesson, another discipleship class. And if ministers don't keep learning, the world will drain them dry.

The world, the flesh, and the devil outnumber ministers, and they have you in their sights. Take pains with the things of God. Pay close attention to your lives and to your doctrine. Don't let the ministry keep you from Jesus or keep you from learning.

Don Whitney

is Associate Professor of Biblical Spirituality at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., and the author of numerous books, including, Simplify Your Spiritual Life (NavPress, 2003).

This article is adapted with permission from his article: "The almost inevitable ruin of every minister . . . and how to avoid it." For more check out: www.BiblicalSpirituality.org.