The tables are turned on suffering. The greater the suffering, the greater the promise of glory.
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Many a pastor hears himself in the words of J. R. R. Tolkien’s character Bilbo Baggins: “I feel all thin, sort of stretched, if you know what I mean: like butter that has been scraped over too much bread.” You don’t even need to know the context of Bilbo’s words to get a sense of what they mean. They convey heaviness. Exhaustion. Weariness. Pastors who don’t hear something familiar in these words probably haven’t been pastors for long.
What motivates weary pastors to persevere? That they need such motivation should be uncontroversial. Pastoral ministry, after all, is difficult. Pastors are called to endure seasons of difficulty, disappointment, and hardship. Like our Lord Jesus Christ, pastors aren’t to flee from a life of sorrows but are instead to bear in their own suffering bodies the marks of Christ’s life.
