“It is not right that we should neglect the word of God in order to wait tables” (Acts 6:2). When certain people were complaining about being neglected, the apostles responded. The response was not a defensive “how dare you accuse us!” The response, interestingly, was not even, “we are so sorry the widows have been neglected.” The response was a restatement of their clear ministry purpose: we cannot neglect the word of God. The apostles didn’t ignore the problem, they asked the people to address it; and the apostles did not allow themselves to be sidetracked from their clear purpose. Reading this passage reminds me how important it is to have a clear understanding of the purpose of my  ministry and to remember it when faced with complaints, valid as those complaints might be. It reminds me how important it is to address rather than ignore problems without being sidetracked.