Suffering and Christian Ministry

Did you tackle that trouble that came your way
With a resolute heart and cheerful?
Or hide your face from the light of day
With a craven soul and fearful?
Oh, a trouble’s a ton, or a trouble’s an ounce,
Or a trouble is what you make it,
And it isn’t the fact that you’re hurt that counts,
But only how did you take it?

You are beaten to earth? Well, well, what’s that?
Come up with a smiling face.
It’s nothing against you to fall down flat,
But to lie there — that’s disgrace.
The harder you’re thrown, why the higher you bounce;
Be proud of your blackened eye!
It isn’t the fact that you’re licked that counts,
It’s how did you fight — and why?

And though you be done to the death, what then?
If you battled the best you could,
If you played your part in the world of men,
Why, the Critic will call it good.
Death comes with a crawl, or comes with a pounce,
And whether he’s slow or spry,
It isn’t the fact that you’re dead that counts,
But only how did you die?

(“How Did You Die?” by Edmund Vance Cooke)

Christian ministry whether pastoral or other is in large part about suffering. We follow the Lord. We deny ourselves. We die. Yet, it is in this way that gates of hell do not prevail against us. It is in this way that the gospel goes forth and prevails. It is in this way, the way of the cross, that we glorify our crucified Messiah and Lord. It is this long painful faithful suffering in the same direction that brings the reward.

And guys we’ll soon be dead, we do this, we labor to the point of exhaustion, we run on, not for an earthly wreath but a heavenly one. We run for the prize. We fight and suffer for the cause, because there is a cause, and it is great.

Look to the reward! Look to the reward! It is great. And go on. Fight the fight of faith. Your labor, though great and beyond your ability, is not in vain. And the God that holds the stars in orbit holds your hand.

Keep the reality of the resurrection before you. Keep Revelation 21 close by. Praise Jesus for drinking down to the dregs the cup of wrath and ask that you would continue to suffer faithfully. Brothers, here we have no home. We’re looking for the one to come.

O’ God, help us. We are weak and weary. We need need You.