Three Tasks

Remember Eve's temptation and failure? She went to the forbidden tree and was focusing on it (Genesis 3:6). Remember Abraham obeying God, packing up his wife and servants and heading to a foreign land? His focus was on God's ability to sustain him (Hebrews 6:13-15, 11:8-12). Victory or failure depends on whether we look to ourselves or to God for wisdom.

If we want to be effective leaders, whether to individuals or as pastors of congregations, we must maintain a regular study of God and his word. Paul gives us three priorities; reading, exhortation, and doctrine (1 Timothy 4:13). We will be looking at each of these.

The amount of time set aside to these tasks will vary depending on individual circumstances. The woman who works a full time job and has a toddler cannot devote the same amount of time to these as the woman who has retired and has no children at home. The man who works a full time job and has a young family cannot devote as much time as a full time pastor. Noting this, we all need to make time to include these tasks on a regular schedule.