If we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; and if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which you experience when you patiently endure the same sufferings that we suffer. 2 Corinthians 1:6
Suffering and affliction: something that is inevitable in life. Everybody goes through them for a season. Christian leaders are not exempted from these as well. What becomes more painful is that when it hits Christian leaders, there are troublemakers, sometimes even in church that assume reasons why Christian leader go through difficult seasons in their lives. When the pastor or a family members gets sick, some speculate he has sinned. Some will assume he does not have enough faith, when they go through a tragedy, some troublemakers invent their own reasons why such and such happen to so and so... Not knowing the suffering for Christian leaders benefits eventually the flock that follows them. In the above verse. Paul said if he was afflicted, it is for his flock's comfort and salvation. Think about it, it was Paul undergoing the painful experience, but the comfort and benefit goes to his hearers. Of course Paul himself grows from the experience, but it is the members or the congregation that will draw strength from what Paul went through. If Paul is comforted or in a state that all is well, it is also beneficial for the members. Think of it this way. Whatever Christian leaders face, the members nor the followers benefit from it. Therefore, the best thing to do when Christian leaders are suffering or going through the best season of their lives is pray for them... because whatever season they are in, the members benefit the most. 14 December
Comments