Love and Joy in Ministry

In 1984, from her Album entitled Private Dancer, Tina Turner recorded a song entitled “What’s Love Got to Do with It.” The following words are the lyrics from the chorus:

Oh-oh, what’s love got to do, got to do with it?
What’s love but a second-hand emotion?
What’s love got to do, got to do with it?
Who needs a heart when a heart can be broken?

What a narrow and really broken view of love. Love for us as leaders should never be a “second-hand emotion.” Love is the motivation for all that we do. The love Jesus has for us, and the love we have for our Lord, should motivate us to love others as He has loved us.

Out of our love should flow the joy of the Lord and the joy of our calling.

For a ministry wife, love and joy are not separate callings—they are woven together in the daily fabric of obedience.

In ministry life, love is often costly. It looks like opening your home when you are tired. It sounds like listening when you would rather retreat. It feels like forgiving when words have wounded. The love you are called to live is not a shallow sentiment; it is the steady, covenantal love described in 1 Corinthians 13—patient, kind, not easily angered, keeping no record of wrongs. That kind of love is not fueled by emotion. Christ fuels it.

And this is where joy enters the story.

Joy is not the result of easy circumstances in ministry. It does not rise and fall with attendance numbers, church votes, or the opinions of others. Joy is rooted in abiding in Christ (John 15:9–11). Jesus connects the two clearly: “As the Father has loved Me, so have I loved you… These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you.” His love produces His joy.

When you love from overflow rather than obligation—when you love because Christ deeply loves you—joy becomes the quiet strength beneath your service. It steadies you when ministry feels unseen. It sustains you when your husband carries heavy burdens. It guards your heart from bitterness.

Love in ministry is not always applauded. But joy is the evidence that your roots go deeper than approval. Joy whispers, God sees. God is working. God is enough.

So what does love have to do with joy? Everything.

The more securely you rest in Christ’s love, the freer you are to love others without resentment—and the more resilient your joy becomes. Love is the seed. Joy is the fruit. And both are found in abiding close to Him.

Will you come away and abide with me at Refresh Retreat this year? I hope you will!

Praying and loving you, Diane