Ministry is going to be tough. If you stay faithful to the gospel, you will be attacked, maligned, misunderstood, and criticized. The temptation will be to defend yourself at all cost. After all, no one likes to have his name dragged through the mud—trust me, I know.

Playwright T.S. Eliot wrote, “In my beginning is my end.” The statement has been interpreted in many ways, but I see in it a reflective note of someone older who realizes that who we end up becoming is set in motion and already at work at the beginning of our lives. Oh, how I wish I had known that when I began my ministry.

This year I turned 52 years old and I am realizing very quickly that my end is closer than my beginning. As I reflect on 20 years of ministry, I wish I could go back and tell my younger self a few things — things that had I known at the beginning of the race would surely have served me, and others, well. If I could go back in time, here are four pieces of counsel I would share with my younger self.

1. Knowing the Bible is not the same as knowing Christ.

The apostle Paul said, “I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14). That was his greatest passion: to know Jesus, to experience his resurrection power, to participate in his sufferings so that he might be conformed into his image. And that ought to be your greatest passion.

Seminary training is great. A working knowledge of Hebrew and Greek will serve you well. Reading your Bible, learning doctrine, and preparing gospel-saturated sermons are a must. But none of those is the same as having and cultivating a vibrant relationship with the risen Christ, fueled by regular drinking from the fountain of living water — Christ himself.

Never stop studying the Bible. But above all, never stop pursuing Christ. He is the pearl of great price and the greatest treasure in the universe. He laid hold of you so that you might spend the rest of your life growing in intimate knowledge of him. This might surprise you, but I have learned that the greatest need of your people is your personal knowledge of Jesus Christ.

2. Preaching sermons is not the same as loving people.

Don’t get me wrong: preaching is important. You will spend the bulk of your ministry proclaiming God’s word. It’s your duty, one to which you will be held accountable. But as Martyn Lloyd-Jones said, “To love to preach is one thing, but to love the people to whom you preach is quite another.” And let me tell you, God’s people will inevitably know the difference.

Preaching is only part of being a faithful shepherd. You are called to model your shepherding efforts after Christ himself, of whom it is written, “having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them to the end” (John 13:1). To love like that is to love not only in word from the pulpit, but also in deed with your presence amid people’s pain, heartaches, and sufferings.

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