When you have watched war movies, do you ever notice soldiers who are overwhelmed with shame for the war wounds they received? Humiliated, because their enemy scored a direct hit in the heat of combat? Do you ever see other soldiers looking at a wounded comrade with scorn and pity? On the contrary! The wounded soldier is treated with care and compassion. They are decorated with purple heart medals and honored with the respect that comes from facing a mortal enemy, and surviving to tell about it.
So why is it that SPIRITUAL WARFARE is treated vastly different from PHYSICAL WARFARE? Why is it that wounds suffered in spiritual warfare are seen as a sign of spiritual WEAKNESS, rather than celebrated as a sign that you were engaged in close range battle with the kingdom of darkness?
If someone wanted to design a profession that would lead to stress and exhaustion and shame, they couldn't do a better job than that of a pastor. Pastors are expected to preach sermons that are honest and vulnerable to the congregation, but have the skin of a crocodile when that vulnerability is later weaponized against them.
Pastors are expected to run a complex non-profit ministry – a full blown “business” - almost exclusively on volunteer labor and donations, while naive people tell them that they wish THEY had the easy, part-time job of a pastor. Pastors often spend vast sums of money on college education and vocational training, yet are willing to raise a family on a salary that is often far below minimum wage... while being accused that "churches only want money". Pastors encourage others to develop meaningful friendships with other Christians, but are in a position that makes it extremely hard to develop friendships themselves. People in your church expect you to be far better than you are, and other pastors feel the pressure to hide their weaknesses from you. And so you can easily find yourself struggling alone.
Behind all of these contradictions (and many more), there is a spiritual battle that rages. And not surprisingly, the pastoral family is at the front edge of the attacks.
So here is the point... If you have been wounded in ministry, you have nothing to be ashamed of. You bear scars from a spiritual battle that most Christians would never be brave enough to fight. You may need to heal. You may need to spend some time recovering. You may need to get help from others. But you have nothing to be ashamed of.
“For I bear on my body the scars that show I belong to Jesus.” Galatians 6:17
