Burning with the right fuel

I have been learning a fair bit about wood stoves this year; being in a slightly colder part of NZ the stove in our home is a very important in warming our house. I had some assumptions about what would burn well and what would not burn well and I was wrong. I assumed that bark that came with the wood we purchased would make great kindling. It did not; it burnt for a bit and then just smoked. A possible future method for smoking food, but not so good for starting a fire.

Something I continue to forget and relearn is how Christian ministry has to be fueled with with good fuel if you want it to last well and not fizzle out. In my head I know that if I let my work be fueled by my own experience, training or energy then I am going to fizzle out, let alone the groups I work with. The fuel that it needs is a daily experience of how the gospel of Jesus is good news for both the found -particularly myself!- and the lost (2 Peter 1:3-9), a daily reminder that it is about service rather than exerting power (Luke 22:24-27), and a daily reminder that rather than it being our work it is God's work and we work under and with Him in it (Matthew 28:18-20).