Confrontation and hesitation

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The early church fathers had a saying: "The best bishop is a bad bishop." In other words, we sometimes grow more through adversity than we do by encouragement and supportive spiritual direction.

When I was experiencing a lot of conflict in a particular church, a wise pastor shared this saying with me and told me to substitute "congregation" for "bishop." His advice: don't be so quick to solve problems and get rid of the suffering. If we learn obedience by the things that we suffer, as Jesus did, real growth may involve weathering the storms of unjust criticism and false charges. Those who sinfully inflict pain may be used by God to nurture us in holiness.