{"id":1771,"date":"2025-07-03T17:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/2025\/07\/03\/cracked-but-called\/"},"modified":"2025-07-03T17:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T17:00:00","slug":"cracked-but-called","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.christianitytoday.com\/pastors\/content\/cracked-but-called\/","title":{"rendered":"Cracked but Called"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

There’s an old boxing gym in my neighborhood. The windows are grimy, the signage rusted and broken. But through the glass, you can glimpse something profound happening inside. Old trainers with cauliflower ears guide young fighters through their paces. Heavy bags swing. The ring bears scuff marks from countless rounds, countless falls, countless moments when staying down would have been easier than getting back up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What strikes me isn’t the violence, it’s the reverence. These aren\u2019t thugs throwing wild punches. They\u2019re craftsmen, learning their form in the hardest classroom imaginable. A trainer doesn\u2019t measure a fighter by how many punches he avoids but by how many he takes and keeps going. The scars tell the story. The bruises mark the curriculum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

C.S. Lewis understood this when he wrote from wartime London: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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“Only those who try to resist temptation know how strong it is. After all, you find out the strength of the German army by fighting against it, not by giving in.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

I think about that boxing gym every time I hear the statistics that haunt pastors\u2019 conferences\u201467% have wrestled with pornography; 59% battle depression; and 40% have faced serious conflict in their churches. We whisper these numbers like confessions, ashamed of the failure they represent. But maybe they mean something else. Maybe they\u2019re evidence that we\u2019ve stepped into the ring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Formed by the fight<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

I know pastors who\u2019ve learned their theology in the ring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael has wrestled with sexual addiction for 18 years. He\u2019s not acting out or crossing lines, but he\u2019s fighting a daily battle that most couldn\u2019t imagine. He preaches on purity with an authority that comes from the trenches. When a young man confesses similar struggles, Michael doesn\u2019t offer platitudes. He offers partnership from someone who knows the weight of the gloves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then there\u2019s David, whose anger could incinerate relationships if he allowed it. But he\u2019s learned to turn that fire into compassion. His gentleness with difficult parishioners comes not from natural temperament but was forged through daily victories of restraint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And there\u2019s Rebecca, a pastor\u2019s wife and lay leader, who battles depression while helping her husband lead a church through its own grief. She serves every Sunday with her own sorrow in tow. When she speaks about joy, it\u2019s not from a place of constant sunshine. It\u2019s from the ash heap, where she gained hard-won knowledge that joy is possible in the darkest of places.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What they share is this: They\u2019re all still fighting. Still getting up. Still showing up to the ring day after day, knowing they\u2019ll take hits but showing up anyway and refusing to throw in the towel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lewis wasn\u2019t just talking about temptation. He was talking about the whole curriculum of spiritual warfare. You don\u2019t discover the enemy\u2019s strength by avoiding the fight. You learn it by resisting\u2014by staying in the fight long enough to understand what you\u2019re up against.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pastors who limp<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Consider Jacob, who wrestled all night with a divine opponent who could have ended the match instantly. He walked away limping, his hip permanently displaced. But he also emerged blessed, carrying a new name that means \u201che wrestles with God.\u201d The limp, like his new name, was his badge of honor, proof that he was strong enough to stay in the ring when everything in him wanted to quit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our churches need that story. Often, the most mature believers are the ones who limp. They bear the most scars. The pastors who understand grace best are the ones who\u2019ve needed it most desperately, most consistently, most recently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The same principle applies to pastoral couples. When both husband and wife bear those scars\u2014when both have fought and gotten back up\u2014their partnership in ministry becomes something forged in the fires of mutual dependence on grace. Not polished. Forged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reading the wrong scorecard<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We\u2019ve confused the boxing ring with a ballroom. We reward pastors for avoiding hits rather than for staying in the fight after taking the hits. We elevate those who have never felt the enemy\u2019s strength and dismiss those who have fought hard and refused to surrender.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fifty-five percent of pastors who acknowledge wrestling with pornography live in constant fear of being discovered. Not because they\u2019ve surrendered to sin, but because they\u2019ve been wounded in battle, convinced their struggle disqualifies them from ministry rather than qualifies them for deeper effectiveness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But what if we\u2019ve been reading the scorecard wrong? What if the pastor still fighting temptation after 20 years isn\u2019t a liability but a guide? What if the leader who shepherds others while battling depression isn\u2019t weak but faithful?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When to draw the boundary line<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Let me address the elephant in the room: Boundaries matter. There\u2019s a crucial difference between fighting temptation and yielding to it, between struggling with sin and being enslaved by it, between wrestling with weakness and being defeated by it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A pastor who is tempted by sexual sin but seeks help, sets boundaries, and protects others is fundamentally different from one who crosses ethical lines. The leader walking through inner storms yet still caring for the flock stands apart from one whose mental health compromises his ability to provide pastoral care. The minister channeling anger into righteous passion differs dramatically from one whose rage wounds the sheep.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clear disqualification markers include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n