And they came to Ephesus, and he left them there, but he himself went into the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews. When they asked him to stay for a longer period, he declined. But on taking leave of them he said, “I will return to you if God wills,” and he set sail from Ephesus.
Ministry is hard. Not only is it not a “9-to-5” type job, it also makes your office the same place you go to connect with your church, it makes the separation between “job” and “faith” hard to navigate. There is never enough time for a Pastor to do everything he wants to do. Paul went through Ephesus and the people responded so well to him… but he didn’t have time to devote all his time there. “Why won’t Paul stay… can you believe Paul, he just doesn’t care about us…” of course that’s not true. If you have a church of more than 50 people, unless a Pastor neglects other duties, he can’t spend all his time in every way he would want to, Just as Paul may have wanted to stay in Ephesus, he had a plan, and did as much as he could.
