Struggling - but not failing!

Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:58

I don’t know who or where it came from, but this little message popped up on my iPad the other day: The fact that you’re struggling doesn’t mean you’re failing.

It was obviously meant as a word of encouragement for anyone who’s finding things hard at the moment. And after a moment’s thought I responded in my mind: Yes; thanks for that!

Not that I feel that I’m particularly struggling at the moment. But I do share with I imagine most people that sense of heaviness: the coronavirus of course, the short days and long nights, the cold and wet of midwinter, political instability, bad news from pretty well everywhere around the world. These aren’t easy times, are they?

Many people do feel that they’re struggling; that they really aren’t coping with the build-up of pressures. A pastor friend told me that in ministry at the moment “you have to do twice as much work for half the return”. He described his work as “a nightmare”. I have no illusions where I might be if I weren’t safely retired.

I think the apostle Paul would have welcomed that message. The fifteenth chapter of his first letter to the church in Corinth is one of the longest in the New Testament, no fewer than 58 verses. It’s all to do with the greatest theme imaginable: the bodily resurrection of Jesus – plus the fact that through faith in him we share in his resurrection, his victory even over death itself: “Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?... thanks be to God! He gives to us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ” (verses 55-57).

You would think that’s a great note with which to wind up the resurrection theme. But no; he chooses to tag on his little word of encouragement - and back down to earth you come with a bump. Never read 1 Corinthians 15 without including verse 58!

What does Paul tell his readers?

First, there’s a word of what used to be called “exhortation” – urging, spurring on. He tells his readers to “stand firm”, not to be easily blown over or knocked down. They are to “let nothing move them”. I think of one of those magnificent trees that even the most howling gale can’t uproot.

Some people, of course, might want to reply, “It’s all very well talking like this, Paul. But that’s my whole problem: I’m not standing firm. I’m barely coping. Sometimes I feel I’m going under. I just don’t know how much more I can take”.

Fair enough: and I think Paul would have had nothing but sympathy for anyone who said that. He had, after all, been there himself – just look at the first chapter of his second letter to Corinth, where he plainly states that “we despaired of life itself” (“despair” isn’t a word you normally associate with Paul, is it!).

No, this isn’t an easy “pull-yourself-together” scold for anyone who is genuinely suffering with some kind of depression. But it is a rallying-call for any of us who might be tempted to throw up our hands and give up.

That leads to the second thing: a reminder that often the way through a bad patch is to roll up our sleeves and buckle down to some worthwhile task. We are to “give ourselves fully to the work of the Lord”.

Again, this isn’t intended to crush the person who is simply no longer physically or mentally capable of such service; what they need is love, support, understanding and prayer. But it is a reminder that under normal circumstances “where there’s a will there’s a way”, and we are to look for that way. As someone has said, it is often not God’s way to bring us out of dark times, but to bring us through them. And we end up all the stronger as a result.

Do any of us need to ask God to give us some new part to play, some personal ministry to take on: perhaps something very simple and ordinary, but “the work of the Lord” all the same? As the saying goes, it’s better to light a candle than to curse the darkness.

The third thing is a word of encouragement: “your labour in the Lord is not in vain”.

Perhaps this is the worst thing about feeling heavy-spirited and pessimistic: things which once we used to do cheerfully and gladly – well, now we struggle to summon up any motivation. It all seems a waste of time and of what little energy we may have, so why bother? what’s the point?

Well, says Paul, there is a point. Even the tiniest, most insignificant thing we do for the glory of God will bear fruit. True, we may never see that fruit, but that doesn’t matter: God sees it, and he uses it to bring joy, hope and peace into someone else’s life.

If we take 1 Corinthians 15 seriously it helps us to glory in the joy of resurrection. But it helps us to glory too in the joy of serving our loving Father and our fellow-men and women.

Loving Father, in my heaviness of spirit please enliven and energise me to do even the smallest and most feeble things, trusting that they are valued both here on earth and even in heaven. Amen.