There are so many blessings to being in the Lord’s church, one of which is the body of believers that we call brothers and sisters or just the family of God. I have been encouraged by so many across the nation. Most of them don’t even know or may not even be trying to be an encouragement. They are simply serving God and in so doing are a blessing to others by their examples. Paul spoke about this in a letter to the church in Corinth.
Paul and those that were with him in Corinth were working in such a way so that there would be “no cause for offense in anything, so that the ministry will not be discredited” (2 Cor. 6:3). All of their actions were filtered through the process of, “Will this help or will this hurt the church?” In order to do that, they had to think differently about themselves. Paul said, “In everything commending ourselves as servants of God” (2 Cor. 6:4). They framed out their world view as servants of God. So, no matter the circumstance, they were serving God through everything that happened. These are the circumstances he mentions. “In much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger, in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, in the word of truth, in the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left, by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; regarded as deceivers and yet true; as unknown yet well-known, as dying yet behold, we live; as punished yet not put to death, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things” (2 Cor. 6:4-10).
It is possible to go through similar circumstances and have a view of life that would limit our perspective and produce a very different outcome. In all of this, Paul was serving God, and the church was blessed because of it. If we were negative, we wouldn’t be able to see beyond our own situation in order to recognize what is being learned or how our circumstances could be an encouragement to others. Many people have been brought to the Lord by watching how Christians handled very hard situations in their lives. The opposite is true as well. Many more people have been turned away from the church because of how Christians have conducted themselves in particularly difficult times.
It is no doubt that Paul was a blessing to so many in the early church. He had commended himself as a servant of God. He had decided that he was going to be a blessing. He had learned the secret to being content in his circumstances (Phil. 4:11). Whenever it was most difficult, it was Christ who strengthened him for the work at hand (Phil. 4:13).