Every now and then I hear people speak of their ministry to children at the church, or through teaching a Sunday School class, or organizing the ladies’ retreat. I rarely hear a businessman refer to his company as his ministry. I don’t hear many parents classify their family as their ministry. But, we should rethink.

My wife, Dianne, teaches Pre-kindergarten in a public school. She says it is her mission field, which means the three R’s are simply a venue through which she ministers as Father affords opportunity.

I often help executives embrace the concept that a presentation to the Board of Directors is ministry. Don’t misunderstand: I realize that a financial report to the directors is a different discussion than a Bible study. But trusting that God’s Spirit is living through you to accomplish what’s on His mind is just as valid a ministry in the boardroom as it is in the Bible study.

You are a minister. Embrace this about yourself. Carry yourself as such. Scripture says, “As a man thinks in his heart, so is he.”7 Think about who you are—a minister—and you will conduct yourself as a minister.

Live with this conviction—you don’t even have to talk about it—and your life will be a ministry statement about God. Live with this conviction and your profession will afford you the opportunity to demonstrate what it means to have Christ living in and through you. That is ministry.

Ministry is not something you do. Work is what you do. Minister is who you are as a person filled with the Spirit of God.

7 Pro. 23:7a