Proclaimer Blog
Ministry and suffering (5): contentment
What is the answer to suffering? How, as a minister of the gospel, do we endure the slings and arrows that come our way? How do we learn to live with tension, illness, family trouble, disgruntled church members, divided leaderships and so on?
We don't pretend that they aren't tensions. Gospel ministers are not called to be ostriches. We have to face up to difficulties, deal with them head on when necessary and realise that the world is sinful. It is sinful corporately – sin is in the world and the world is broken. It is sinful individually – the world is made up of sinners whom we interact with every day and the greatest sinner of all is closer to us than we imagine (work it out). That means that sometimes life is rubbish.
The answer is not to make the rubbishness go away. That could easily become the focus of our prayers. Whilst I don't want to play down praying for the particularities of situations we find ourselves in we must, at the very least, begin to recognise that every moment is a teaching moment given by a gracious father and the one quality we must learn above all is CONTENTMENT.
I rejoiced greatly in the Lord that at last you renewed your concern for me. Indeed, you were concerned, but you had no opportunity to show it. I am not saying this because I am in need, for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength. (Phil 4.10-13).
The last line is often proof texted as a kind of catch all to every situation. But in the context, of course, it is Paul acknowledging that he can be content in every situation because God gives him strength. The new NIV (above) takes this line when interpreting panta ("all things" in ESV, here "all this"). My struggles in ministry have all sorts of causes and spring from all kinds of situations. But ultimately they often reflect my inability to be content. That, in my current hard days, is a lesson I'm learning the difficult way. But it's a great lesson – he who gives me strength makes it possible.