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By Pastor Chuck Swindoll

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Resist Isolation

“Invite others to come closer. You will find as you get older that you will become increasingly more isolated. You will. If you’re not careful, people will become a bother to you. They will become wearisome to you, and you will look for ways to get away from them, especially if you are serving in a large place that has a large number of involvements with other people. Let me urge you to go against the tide and invite others to come closer to you. Paul urges Timothy not only to come, but verse 21, ‘to come before winter.’ Resist the tendency to live an isolated life. Select a few individuals, not a lot. Nobody has a lot of intimate friends. Throughout our lifetime, four, maybe five, if that many. Stay close to those people. Even though your lives may be geographically removed, stay close.”

Don’t Waste Your Time on Those Who Disappoint You

“Get over those who disappoint you. People are people. Every one of us is sinners. Some are disloyal, others simply let us down. Others have a way of breaking their promises. Well, go on even though they break their promises. Don’t waste your time on those who have disappointed you. He mentions Demas and says nothing more. Refuse to let those people steal your joy or drain your energy.”

Treat People with Grace

“I’ve never regretted helping a failure recover. Never once. I’ve been warned by friends that I will be sorry I did that. I’ve been told by some that it’ll hurt my ministry. Neither happened. Some are engaged in God’s work today with full energy because some of us cared enough to help them back on their feet. Lift up and encourage those recovering from a failure.”

Stay Fully Focused on the Lord

“What contagious faith there is in these last few verses. What great attitudes we see here. No regrets, no heavy anchors dragging, no if onlys. Only Christ. The Lord stood with me. The Lord will deliver me. The Lord will bring me safely to His kingdom. To the Lord be the glory forever and ever. Amen. Now that is the way to live. That is the way to die.”

Press On

“Nobody comes along every other day and pats you on the back and says, ‘You’re doing a great job. Stay at it. Press on.’ So a lot of that becomes your talk with God and your own self talk, which I have taught my kids all their lives, the most important voice you hear outside the Lord’s is your own. What do you tell yourself? And if today you are already thinking about that great day when you will retire, I’ve got a lot of things to say to you. Don’t go there. What a stupid way to live our lives, as though everything hangs on the time I can hang it up.”

Additional Resources

First, sign up for our Chuck’s Insights on Ministry email where we bring you his best thoughts on preaching, leadership, and ministry each week. By signing up, you’ll instantly receive a one-page checklist with 20 preaching insights from Chuck. See this page’s sidebar.

Second, check out our new Preach The Word articles and video series on YouTube where we’re teaching Chuck’s best insights on this important calling.

Third, listen to Chuck’s messages to those in ministry through our Seminary Chapels page. For decades, he offered students at Dallas Theological Seminary his best thoughts on church leadership and ministry. Now, we have put them at your finger tips. Also, you can find them through this YouTube playlist we created for you.

Fourth, if you don’t own a copy of Chuck’s book on preaching, Saying It Well, we highly recommend you add it to your library. It’s his preaching memoir that is also like a practical preaching manual. You won’t be able to put it down.

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