11. Do I Understand That I will Experience Pain?
In Matthew 10:21-23 Jesus outlines very painful situations that a minister of the Gospel or a leader of a church will have to endure, the family issues, hatred issues, persecutions issues, are all associated with the calling on our life. Ministry is painful and if we stay in long enough the pain does not decrease it will increase. The thing we are to do in this situation is keep our eyes on Jesus because endured more pain then we every will and he never quit.
What are our common responses to pain?
We can run from it…which is NOT following the example of Jesus. After all, He did take an intense amount of pain for us!
We can deny it…after all, we are leaders, right? We aren’t supposed to hurt—heck—we’re superhuman! BUT…denying pain will only bring about physical, emotional and spiritual issues that we should not have to deal with. If a leader is going to lead well then he MUST be honest about the pain he goes through.
We can inflict it…because hurting people hurt people, right? Many times our response when we hurt is to hurt others…not the Christlike thing to do!
We can play through it! Jesus did not promise us a life free from pain. If He did then He didn’t live the life that He promised because He dealt with pain—people doubted Him, one of his closest friends betrayed Him, He was murdered and mocked while that was being done. YET…He played through the pain and the result was something the world has never seen!!! Some of the most amazing leaders on the planet are NOT the ones who have never dealt with pain…but rather the ones that have been willing to play through it!
We can learn from it. Whenever I experience pain I try my best to learn from it so that I won’t have to go through that lesson again…some lessons I have learned lately associated with pain are…
- HE IS THE MOST HIGH GOD!!! (It’s amazing how often I forget this!)
- He will handle those who oppose His work…my responsibility is to focus on His work!
- He is faithful!
- Giving thanks on a more frequent basis is the best medication for my worry and stress.
- Laziness and apathy are two things that God has never used to bring about positive change!
One more thing…I did a blog post quite a while back entitled, “The Pastors Pain.” If you haven’t read it…and you are a pastor (or you care about one) I would highly suggest you take a look at it.