Coming alongside leaders and joining them on their journey is one of the greatest privileges in life. The longer I work with leaders, the more I realize the majority of them struggle with one thing more than any other. And it’s not what you think. It’s not fame or fortune (although some struggle here). It’s not their relationship with God (although some struggle here as well.) It’s not a lack of caring, effort, or trying. None of these are the most common cause of personal failure for a leader.

Chris Hodges states: “Pace is the most common cause of personal failure” I think Chris is right. The truth is, we do stupid things when we get tired.

Back in the 1980s, we had the fall of the Jimmys—Bakker and Swaggart. I attended a conference in Grand Rapids, MI shortly thereafter where Paul Yonggi Cho was speaking, and he addressed these indiscretions with one sentence: “They needed to play more golf.” I remember thinking at the time that Cho’s perspective made no sense. But as I’ve aged, I believe he may have been on to something. I wonder how much an insane pace contributed to their personal failure.

The more growth in your ministry, the more pace becomes a challenge. The faster your pace, the more tempted you’ll be to do something stupid.

Some of us equate pace with character, with effectiveness, with value… pace has nothing to do with these things. Some leaders believe spiritual passion fuels their fast pace.  I wonder how often adrenaline is fueling it. Carl Honore wrote: “A high speed lifestyle is like a drug. It changes the chemistry of the body and the brain. It produces stress junkies.”

The good news is God has given leaders (and all of us) ways to regulate our pace. One way is obeying the fourth commandment: “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy (set apart).” (NIV). Most Christians observe Sabbath on Sunday. For most ministry leaders, Sunday is a work day. They have to set aside a different day during the week to downshift, relax, and rest.

Obeying the fourth commandment:

Reminds us our life’s work is ultimately God’s, not ours

Unless the Lord builds the house, we labor in vain. Our job is to plant and water—the results are up to God. Taking a day off every week helps us remember its God’s ministry, not ours. When we regularly ignore Sabbath, pride is not far away. And I wonder… is pride the root cause of the most common cause of personal failure? Maybe one reason God gave us the Sabbath was to protect us from our ego. To help us understand He works even when we rest. Practicing Sabbath also

Extends our shelf-life

God can get more done through us over a longer period of time when we take a regular day off. Multiple work-week studies—conducted by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Department of Labor, Proctor and Gamble Company, the Business Roundtable, the National Electrical Contractors Association, and the Mechanical Contractors Association of American—measured the productivity of two groups of people doing the same work over a period of eight weeks. One group worked 40 hours per week for eight consecutive weeks, the other 60-70 hours per week for eight consecutive weeks. At the end each study, no discernible difference in productivity could be identified between the two groups. The only difference was the group working 60-70 hours per week had more health problems.

Ministry leaders teach their people… and rightly so… that when they tithe… God will make 90% of their income go farther than 100% would. I submit the same is true about a leader’s schedule. When you regulate your pace by obeying Sabbath… God will help you get more done in six days than you could in seven. How is that possible? It’s possible because God’s ways are higher than our ways.

Pace. The most common cause of personal failure. What’s at the root of an insane pace in your life? Pride? Fear? Either way, it’s time for you to get and stay healthy. To put the ax to root(s) of an out-of-control pace.  To deal a death blow to the most common cause of personal failure.