A friend of mine, who is a children’s pastor, was telling me her testimony about how God called her into ministry. She shared how He spoke those words to her heart—”Am I your very best friend?” calling her out of her comfort zone and asking her to do things that were scary and uncomfortable in order to further His kingdom.
As she spoke about her love for God and her “yes” to His call over her life, I realized that I’ve been so caught up in the work of ministry that I’ve been forgetting the heartbeat behind it all: the why.
Jesus asked Peter three times, “Do you love me?” before telling him, “Feed my sheep.” The first question wasn’t about the work—it was about the relationship. Essentially, Jesus was asking, “Am I your very best friend?”
I want my heart to be in love with Jesus—not just doing ministry because it’s a job or obligation. If we forget the heart behind the work, we’ll lose our passion. Burnout is a real thing in ministry, but often it stems from becoming apathetic. If we no longer serve out of love for Christ, we’ve lost our purpose.
“But I have this complaint against you. You don’t love me or each other as you did at first!
Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first.
If you don’t repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches.”
Revelation 2:4-5 NLT
I don’t want my lampstand removed. I want to serve God faithfully—with a heart that’s not just committed, but passionately in love with Him and the work of His kingdom on earth.
We must abide in our love for God. When we do, the work of our hands will reflect that love. If our priorities are aligned—loving God first—everything else will fall into place. Love for God leads to love for others, love for ourselves, and even love for the work He places in front of us. When we serve with that kind of love, the burden feels lighter. We have purpose. We have desire. We have endurance to run the race with patience.
Think about when you first met your spouse: the butterflies, the flirting, the sparkle in your eyes when they laughed. Their attention made you feel seen, special, and loved. You wanted to please each other in everything.
But over time, that “new love” feeling fades. You start seeing their flaws—but also their heart. The relationship matures. It becomes less about surface attraction and more about lifelong commitment. You go through hard things that either deepen your love or slowly chip away at it.
Now think about the Creator of the universe—the One who created you for the purpose of having a relationship with Him. Do you remember how you felt when you first became a Christian? You felt loved. Seen. Safe. Forgiven. Whole. A heavy burden lifted. So what happened? What made us lose our desire to please God like a new bride pleases her husband?
In Jeremiah 2:1–5, God brings a case against His people. He reminds them that they once followed Him with love—even through the wilderness—but later turned from Him and chased after other gods. They lost their first love. And by worshiping worthless idols, they became worthless themselves.
The Old Testament prophets were sent to call the people back, to remind them of God’s faithfulness. He still loved them. He still longed for them to return. But they played the prostitute, turning their backs on the One who loved them most.
And yet—He loved them still. He simply asked them to turn around. To seek Him. To come home. He loved them enough to die for them.
He loves us that much, too.
If we aren’t intentionally drawing close to God, our love may grow cold—not because He has failed us, but because we get tired. Selfish. Distracted. Lazy. Our spirits are willing, but our flesh is weak. [Matthew 26:41]
So, how do we keep from losing heart? How do we stay in love with God?
We must remember how He loves us. We love because He first loved us. We stay in fellowship with other believers. We build each other up in faith and love. We return to that “first love” moment—when we were newly saved, full of wonder and joy. We set aside legalism and church politics and come to Him like little children.
1 John 4:7-21 (NLT)
Loving One Another
Dear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. But anyone who does not love does not know God, for God is love.
God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins.
Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.
And God has given us his Spirit as proof that we live in him and he in us. Furthermore, we have seen with our own eyes and now testify that the Father sent his Son to be the Savior of the world. All who declare that Jesus is the Son of God have God living in them, and they live in God. We know how much God loves us, and we have put our trust in his love.
God is love, and all who live in love live in God, and God lives in them. And as we live in God, our love grows more perfect. So we will not be afraid on the day of judgment, but we can face him with confidence because we live like Jesus here in this world.
Such love has no fear, because perfect love expels all fear. If we are afraid, it is for fear of punishment, and this shows that we have not fully experienced his perfect love. We love each other because he loved us first.
If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a fellow believer, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see? And he has given us this command: Those who love God must also love their fellow believers.
Our love for God should be the heartbeat behind every action we take. We don’t want to just go through the motions of church or play a part. The truth is, if we’re only pretending, it will eventually show. We can’t hate others and love God. We can only wear a mask for so long before our true selves are revealed.
Jesus said that a tree is known by its fruit. If the tree is bad, the fruit will be bad. But if we are truly rooted in a genuine love for God, then the fruit of the Spirit will naturally flow from our lives. When our motivation is love—real, deep, abiding love for Him—our actions will reflect His character, not just our efforts.
Is God your very best friend?
If He is, then the work—and the desire for ministry—will fall into place. Trust Him with your heart. Life may not always turn out the way you expect, but when you give God your whole heart, your life will be full. He will guide you, sustain you, and lead you in the way everlasting.