No matter how tough your ministry gets, regardless of the criticism you face and the discouragement you’re fighting off, you can rest in one important truth: God won’t stop loving you.

You’ll have days where everything seems to go right—the sermon connects, people respond, and you see lives transformed. You’ll have other days when everything goes wrong—attendance drops and complaints pile up. 

But God’s love will never end. You can count on that.

That truth should be one of the most important sources of joy in your life!

The Bible says it like this in Romans 8:38-39: “For I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from his love. Death can’t, and life can’t. The angels won’t, and all the powers of hell itself cannot keep God’s love away. Our fears for today, our worries about tomorrow, or where we are—high above the sky, or in the deepest ocean—nothing will ever be able to separate us from the love of God demonstrated by our Lord Jesus Christ when he died for us” (TLB).

That’s good news. When you put your hand in God’s hand, he grabs it and won’t let go. God holds on to you with all he has.

You’ll have times in your life when you’ll want to let go of God’s hand. You’ll want to give up your commitment to Christ when times get tough.

But God won’t let go of you—ever. Once you put your hand in his, it’s there to stay.

If you could earn God’s favor by working for it, you could lose it the moment you stopped working for it. 

But you didn’t earn God’s love for you. It was a gift. It can’t be taken back.

That’s an unimaginable source of joy for the pastor and layperson alike.