As Good as it Gets?

Last updated on: August 8, 2012 at 5:01 am by Scot McKnight

As Good as it Gets? 2012-08-07T07:05:42-05:00 Scot McKnight

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

From Mark Stevens, a pastor in Adelaide and student at Tabor Adelaide who blogs at The Parson’s Patch…

In the 1997 romantic comedy ‘As Good As it Gets,’ the main character Melvin Udall, played by Jack Nicholson, turns to a room of people and asks, “What if this is as good as it gets?” Melvin is himself experience an upheaval of soul. He is a man tormented by his own self and his own weakness. In a recent dark night of the soul season, I found myself asking the exact same question; “What if this is as good as it gets?” What if a pastor’s continual struggle with self-doubt, tiredness, stress and anxiety are as good as pastoral ministry gets? What if this is it? What if this pastoral vocation will forever be dominated by the mundane and ordinary work undertaken in harsh and spiritually arid conditions? What if? Have we set up such a culture of performance and expectation that we have come to expect more whizz bang out of what we do as pastors? Do we fall short of God’s expectations or crumble under the weight of our own, or even those unspoken expectations of ministry culture?

In light of these questions I had cause to reflect on the words of Paul in 2 Cor 12:7-10, “Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”

As pastors I wonder if we can sometimes fall into the trap of expecting to much of our own soul. We are expected to be on all of the time. But when funeral follows funeral, crisis follows crisis and we are tired and stretched we can hardly expect to be on game. Furthermore, why do we think we will escape the same “thorn in the flesh” that Paul speaks of? I once heard a preacher say, “Never trust a pastor who doesn’t limp. It means he hasn’t wrestled with God”. “My Grace is sufficient for you, my power is made perfect in weakness.” I wonder if the sooner I come to accept that weakness and not power better describes the pastoral vocation and eve the state of my soul, the sooner I can experience God’s grace.

My daughter who is 5 recently asked me why some churches don’t have crosses on their building. She had observed one local church had large pictures of beautiful people, living life and having fun emblazoned across the side of their building. No cross. My daughter recognises the place of the cross in the Christian faith. She realises it is a central symbol of the Christian life. To her it seems odd that a church would advertise a way of life over a symbol of discipleship because in her mind, churches have crosses. I am told the cross is absent from some churches (and I don’t sit in judgement in this it is merely an observation) because the cross puts people off. It isn’t a symbol that attracts people. The cross disappears behind the life we have always wanted. I wonder if the cross has disappeared from the formation of the pastor’s soul. I wonder if we have let go of the cross in favour of another way.

The Christian life is life defined by death; the death of Christ and our dying to self. Week in week out we preach the way of the cross as the way of obedience in Christ. Jesus did not tell his disciples to take up a new way of life. He simply told them, take up your cross. If you want to find life, first you’ll have to lose it. There is no promise it will be easy or even successful. Resurrection life is not possible without death; then why do we forget about the way of the cross and death?

What is this, way of the cross, this life defined by death is as good as it gets? What if our life is constantly laid low in the dust? What if enduring hardships and being ready out of season is more frequent than times of blessing or preparing sermons in season? What if we get stuck with our thorns? Have we ever considered that these are the things that lead us in the way of the cross?

The promise of God to Paul was not relief from the messenger of Satan sent to torment him, but grace. Grace as God’s sufficiency. Grace as the way of life in Christ. Grace as that which carries us to the cross and sustains us when we have nothing more to give; grace that carries us through the dark nights of the soul. Grace. God’s grace, not our effort.

So, what if this is as good as it gets? What if our thorn, our messenger from Satan, is to be with us until the day we die? All that’s left is grace. All that is left is to trust in the Lord with all our heart; to lean not on our understanding. Perhaps all we can do is echo the words of the Psalmist, “Revive me according to your word”.

Being a pastor is no high and lofty calling. Being a pastor is our act of faithful discipleship. It is our faithful obedience to the call of Jesus to “follow him”. And where does he lead us? To the cross. The way of the cross is the way of life in Christ. If we wish to save our lives, save our souls, as pastors maybe we should take seriously the words of Jesus to lay down our life. To hand over control. To follow Jesus. To accept that maybe we are going to have to carry this thorn in our flesh with us for the rest of our life. And even though we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, even though we are being battered and tormented by this messenger, we can trust that God’s words to Paul are just as true for us. His grace is sufficient for us. Even when we don’t believe it, even when we don’t feel it. Perhaps this is as good as it gets for a reason. A reason we may never know.

The final words Paul in this pericope say it well, “For when I am weak, then I am strong”. Weakness is not the way of the world but for Christians it is as good as it gets because it leads us to his grace.

Pastoring and Leading

Previous Post

August 8, 2012

How is Theology Done?

Next Post

August 8, 2012 More than Story?

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Acts of the Apostles Adam Advent Anabaptism Angels Anglican Apologetics Atonement Baptism BCP Prayers Bible Biblical Studies Birds Blogging Bloglossary Bonhoeffer Books Calvinism Christianity Church Church History Coffee Colossians Commentary Recs Conversion Creation Creeds Culture Death Ecclesiastes Economics Education Embracing Grace Emergent Emerging Movement Eschatology Essays Ethics Eucharist Evangelicalism Family Fasting Fathers Fellowship of Differents Footsteps Tour Fun and Whimsical Gospel Grace Happiness Heaven Hell Holy Spirit Irenaeus James Jesus Jesus Creed Job Justification Kingdom of God Law Lectures Lent Liberalism Love and Marriage Mabanteneni Manhood Mary Miracles Missio Alliance MissioLife Missional Missional Jesus Movies and Film New Perspective Northern Seminary OneLife Origins Project Orthodox Parables Pastor's Spouse Pastoring and Leading Pastoring and Preaching Patristics Paul Paul-John Tour Pharisees Pietism Political Theology Prayer and Formation Preaching Problems for Faith Psalm 119 Psalms Public Issues Purgatory Religions Resurrection Revelation Romans Rule of JCreed Science and Faith Sermon on the Mount Sports Ten Commandments Theology Third Way Top Ten Lists Translations Uncategorized Universalism University Ministry Way Out Weekly Meanderings Wisdom Women and Ministry Work Worship Writing & Blogging Youth Ministry

Select a Month July 2021 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 0000

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

What did Stephen see as he was being stoned?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Angels descending A bright light from heaven Heaven opened and Jesus standing at the right hand of God The face of God