Letters to a Congregation

Every Thursday I write a pastoral letter to the west congregation of The Austin Stone Community Church. These letters are simple, pastoral musings on what it looks like to live a life that is attentive to God in the midst of a shared context.

Letters Ross Lester Letters Ross Lester

The One About an Old King David, and Giving Our Worst Efforts to Our Best People

You give your best to those who don’t care about you and you give your worst to those who do care about you deeply.

How much of our lives is spent giving the best of ourselves to people who don’t love us back, and who maybe aren’t even in our God-prescribed limited sphere of influence? Near strangers at work who we long to impress, people in casual social circles whose lives we covet deeply, people online who we don’t really know at all? And how much of our lives then ends up giving the people who love us the most, the very worst versions of ourselves?

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