It is always my intent in the messages I send out to build up the body of Christ. My method in doing so is to stimulate its thinking rather than to stroke its complacency.

There is an aura of warm fuzziness that tends to surround the body of Christ that is due to its tendency to see itself in the role of martyr-ism rather than to be the overcomers that Christ intends.

On one occasion I heard someone say that the job of the preacher is to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted. I think that statement is right up to a point. It is my opinion that many people would rather see themselves as victims than as overcomers and, therefore, seek out those that offer solace rather than those that prod them toward personal responsibility.

The road we walk is difficult for all of us. It is not a question of how many sorrows we can valiantly bear but rather how many obstacles we can overcome. One can either be crushed by the weight of affliction or see it as an instrument so designed to build him up.

It was with that thought in mind that the Apostle Paul said, regarding his own life of affliction: “Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10).

There is a time to comfort the afflicted and to fail to do so in an appropriate and timely manner is to contribute to his spiritual demise. However, there is little room in the scripture for one who accepts the role of a perpetual martyr. To fail to see the difference is a pitfall that both the afflicted and those who minister to him sometimes fall snare to.

To build one another up in the holy faith requires discernment and wisdom. We must learn when to bear the burden of another and when to require him to bear his own. In one location Paul admonished us to “Bear ye one another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ” (Galatians 6:2). A few verses later he commanded: “For every man shall bear his own burden” (Galatians 6:5).

For my part, I would rather prod the faithful toward greater responsibility and growth than to pour the balm of sympathy over their self-pity. In the west there are bog holes that cattle, in search of water, sometimes wander into. If left to themselves they will only be drawn deeper into the mire by their struggles. One role of the cowboy is to find cattle in such need and rope them and pull them out to solid ground and security.

As believers, we should watch out for believers who wander into life’s “bog holes” that we may draw them to the safety of solid ground. Some who are drawn into “bog holes” of life, however, don’t see the benefit of solid ground and would rather struggle in the mire of their own self-pity than to receive the effort and help required to place them on the solid ground of overcoming faith. Our job is to sufficiently prod them that they see their need and submit to the help that is proffered.

It is not our job to make the afflicted feel comfortable in their affliction but rather to see them safely out of their sorrows and to convert them into overcomers.

Jeff