Yesterday in honoring mothers, our young pastor spoke of his own mother and the hardships she underwent in raising him. His dad had opted out of the picture when he was two years old and has never been seen since. As a result his mother dedicated herself to being both mom and dad to this young boy. Because his mother was willing to accept more than her share of hardships, our pastor grew up in the faith and accepted the call from God to be a priest—and a wonderful priest at that.
Most mothers go far and beyond the pains of birth to take care of the needs of their children. My mother was certainly such a person. Without their willingness to embrace hardships, we would never had made it in life—our pastor would never had been able to listen to God’s call in his life.
To nurture life in a dedicated way, a person must endure many hardships. We see this in a report about the ordeals St. Paul went through in helping give birth to new Christian communities. He was sent out from Antioch, along with Barnabas, to do mission work. In the process he established “churches” in at least nine different cities (Acts 14:19-28). While in Lystra, a place that was so excited about his presence that they wanted to make Paul and Barnabas gods, the tide suddenly turned.
“Some Jews from Antioch and Iconium arrived and won over the crowds. They stoned Paul and dragged him out of the city, supposing that he was dead. But when the disciples gathered around him, he got up and entered the city. On the following day he left with Barnabas for Derbe.”
Taking little time to heal from the vicious stoning, Paul, still wounded, headed to a new city. From there he moved on to revisit the communities that had already been evangelized. Though he had been stoned almost to death, he gave encouragement to the budding churches.
“They strengthened the spirits of the disciples and exhorted them to persevere in the faith, saying, ‘It is necessary for us to undergo many hardships to enter the Kingdom of God.’”
Did we notice that Paul didn’t say that an apostle would have to undergo many hardships to establish new churches? He used the word “us.” And he didn’t say that suffering was necessary to do a great work of God; it was necessary just to “enter” the Kingdom of God. Paul was giving a powerful example to all Christians who would ever choose to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. Far from letting his sufferings get him down, Paul let them fuel his faith so that he could be God’s vessel for giving new strength and exhortation to the early Christians.
Let’s compare Paul’s attitude with that of some of us today. If the sermon goes too long, we squirm and complain. If the pastor encourages us to attend a Bible study Wednesday evening, we ignore his invitation—it interferes with our favorite TV show. We moderns seek a Church without hardship. How does this sit when he hear Paul tell us that many hardships are necessary just to enter the Kingdom of God?
Many we need to reframe the struggles that we are going through. Could these be necessary hardships for entering God’s Kingdom and being more useful in helping Him establish a healthy Church on earth? Do we let our hardships get us down and cause us to take a back seat in “Kingdom work?”
If Paul’s words do not move us, then let’s spend time meditating on the lives of our own mothers and fathers. Because most of them suffered in silence, we may fail to realize the price they paid to help build a solid foundation for our lives. If we find ourselves whining and complaining about how tough being a Christian is, or if we let the bumps in the road get us down, then we ask St. Paul to give us a pep talk—to strengthen our spirits as he did with the early Christian disciples.
“If we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Christ” (Romans 6:8).
