My claims to suffering are rather small compared to so many other people.

For the last several weeks I have been reading a few pages, most every day, from C. J. Mahaney's Humility: True Greatness. The current chapter has been on Habakkuk, the Old Testament prophet. As Mahaney concluded the chapter he inserted a section on anger, in which he related a conservation his sister had with another relative. The setting, of which was, the sister's living room, in which was her husband, awaiting death from a fast growing brain tumor, the sister and the relative. Below is the conversation as related by C. J. Mahaney.

“On one occasion, a relative of Dave was visiting, a man who was not a Christian. As he watched Sharon caring for Dave and thought about Dave's relative youth and the children he would leave behind, anger seemed to well up from within him-anger directed at the God whom Dave and Sharon were professing to believe in.

He asked Sharon, 'Why aren't you angry?'

She turned to him and answered with the truth of the gospel: 'Dave deserved hell for his sins, just like you and me, and yet God, in His mercy, forgave him because of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Dave is going to heaven,” she said. “How could I be angry at God for taking him to heaven?'”

Pastors in small towns and rural villages get sick. I have had a cold that has laid me pretty low for a week or more now. This morning is Labor Day. I sit in my office trying to accomplish a few things but my sinuses are distracting me: they feel like a little more pressure could cause them to explode. The pressure from my glasses on my nose and across my temples is noticeable, and may easily be described as “more than annoying”.

Okay, I have been afflicted with the cold in a 'serious' way for a little over a week. It is time for it to move on - I did try giving it away yesterday but no one would take it! It is time for God to make me all better now that I have experienced the weaknesses and frailties of my flesh. I'm ready to be energetic and strong again.

But suppose, in God's will, I stuff from sinus problems for the rest of my life? Suppose, that every morning, I have to fight the desire to just close my eyes and hope it all goes away, instead of forcing myself to think, to concentrate on a task. Yes, I know that I am revealing how pathetic I really am. Others have faced difficulties every day and somehow march on.

The point of all of this is: would I find God's grace to be sufficient in the face of difficulties of various sizes and shapes that I might be facing? Would I rise up to live the life that I have been called to live trusting the Lord for strength or trusting in my own strength? Would I be content and happy with what God was enabling me to accomplish, or would I say, “God, I could do so much more, if I were health!”?

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (2Co 12:9 ESV)

I'd like to pass on a link. I just finished listen to an interview between Mark Dever and Carolyn McCulley. This is worth a careful listen, and I pray that I (and you too) might be the men and women that would love God more than we might love self.

http://www.9marks.org/audio/women-christianity-and-feminism/?utm_campaign=9MarksUpdate-20100801&utm_medium=email&utm_source=entirelist&utm_content=audiointerview

In my continued plod through a series of book called: The Essential Edwards Collection by Owen Strachan and Doug Sweeney, I ran across these thoughts.

“It is wise to rest and to pace oneself. Furthermore, it is humble to do so. Though it may not seem to be motivated by pride, overworking sometimes reveals a desire to control the world such that one cannot be happy unless all is in immediate order. Though it seems strange in a very busy age, resting can often glorify the Lord since it expresses humility and a recognition of God's sovereignty.” (Lover of God, 71)

“The glorious excellencies and beauty of God will be what will for ever entertain the minds of the saints, and the love of God will be their everlasting feast. The redeemed will indeed enjoy other things; they will enjoy the angels, and will enjoy one another; but that which they shall enjoy in the angels, or each other, or in any thing else whatsoever that will yield them delight and happiness, will be what shall be seen of God in them. (Works, 17, 208)”

“For Edwards, life is not about one's selfish interests and heaven is not about one's prefabricated paradise. Earthly life and heavenly life alike revolve around the greatness of God.”

From The Essential Edwards Collection: Lover of God, Owen Strachan and Doug Sweeney, Moody Press, p. 63-64.

A week ago we got together with several of our children and grandchildren. We now have a few visiting with us, with another daughter coming for a brief visit next week. Pastors are, for the most part, with the Lord's blessing, family men.

While this status ought not to be abused, the church ought to encourage their pastor to be a godly, faithful husband, son, dad and grandfather. The pastor's family is in need of all that he would counsel other men to give to their family.

The pastor's family is also a sinful family. In saying this I am not saying that the families of pastors are all very dysfunctional. Certainly some may be. On the other hand all of the children and grandchildren come into the family being in the state of spiritual deadness. They will not show signs of spiritual life until, and if, God makes them alive in Christ.

Therefore, we might pray for our pastor and his family like we would pray for any other Christian family – that he and his wife might be godly testimonies at home and that God would graciously save his children and grandchildren. Further, as in my case, not all my children are waking with the Lord, and my grandchildren have not yet professed Christ. Continue to pray, lest the love of family overwhelm his heart, pushing out the love of the Lord. Or, that he would cease to love and care for those in his family who are rebellious against the Lord.

In other words, the pastor, in his relationship to his family, is a man just like any other Christian man; therefore, pray for him as you might for yourself or your husband.

“Because He [God] is not capricious, He can be known. He can be trusted. His words are a true revelation of Himself, and we need not fear that He will act arbitrarily. Such was good news for the ancient Israelite, and it remains good news for us today.” Table Talk, July 2010

This means, among other things, that as we come to know this God, our character will become more stable, less capricious. This is a good, especially if it is coupled with holiness.

I have not counted but I suspect that Princeton Baptist Church, like many other church, is made up of a majority of women. While we believe that men and women are saved by the same Savior, through the same cross, and the same faith, we also believe that God has made men and women with distinctions. We are not the same.

As mentioned we believe that our distinction were designed and given to us by our Creator. This has many implication for life, work, families and church, many of which are actually addressed in God's Word.

Every couple of months www.9marks.org publishes an eJournal. This issue is entitled Pastoring Women. I found it a helpful and challenging read, and wish to pass it on to you. The eJournal is on the home page.

May our women be glorious, holy women and a men, noble, faithful leaders, even here in Princeton.