2 Corinthians 12

While I should not be after having served in the local church for the past 28 years either part-time or full-time, I am amazed at how much effort Paul has put forth in defending his apostleship and dealing with petty issues in the church of Corinth.  In this chapter he continues to address and defend his rights of being an apostle of Christ.  As reluctant as he is to boast about his "rights" he chooses to do so from a different point of view.  Rather than speaking of being strong, eloquent, creative, and powerfully elite Paul chooses to take the approach of his weaknesses.  His reasoning is quiet simple, he does not want the glory for what he might have accomplished but rather he wants all glory and honor to go unto God.  Paul states in verses 9-10 "Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may reside in me. So because of Christ, I am pleased in weaknesses, in insults, in catastrophes, in persecutions, and in pressures. For when I am weak, then I am strong."  He recognizes that through the weaknesses Christ is exalted rather than him and that through the weaknesses God's strength is bequest to him making him strong enough for all situations he faces.  Paul recognizes he will face adversity, but through the adversity God's delivering power is sufficiently displayed.

While this route of hardships and difficulties was not Paul's chosen path as we see in verse 7-8 where Paul says, "Therefore, so that I would not exalt myself, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to torment me so I would not exalt myself. 8 Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times to take it away from me."  In this we see that Paul was not a sadist nor was he a martyr for his glory.  He desired that God would make his path lighter, but succumb to the thorn in the flesh because he recognized there was a great plan at stake.  (As to the exact nature of the thorn in the flesh we do not know.  There is a myriad of potential interpretations ranging from a disease to a wife [don't shoot the messenger.] but we do not know exactly.  We do know it was a burden to Paul but he willingly endured for the sake of Christ.)

In closing, let's examine our lives.  What issues do we face where we could surrender them to God and allow His glory to manifest in our weaknesses?  Are there people in our lives opposing us causing us to want to retaliate out of the flesh?  Could we be better servants by simply boasting about our weaknesses to see God's strength displayed in the situation?  Do we have a "thorn in the flesh" as Paul which could project the power of God to work in our weaknesses allowing others to see the glory of God revealed?  Today let us walk humbly before God with a intentionality of seeing God glorified in all we say and do.