“That experience is worth boasting about, but I’m not going to do it. I will boast only about my weaknesses. If I wanted to boast, I would be no fool in doing so, because I would be telling the truth. But I won’t do it, because I don’t want anyone to give me credit beyond what they can see in my life or hear in my message, even though I have received such wonderful revelations from God. So to keep me from becoming proud, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me and keep me from becoming proud. Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
2 Corinthians 12:5-10 NLT
For many Christians, the goal of their time with Christ is about allowing them to glory in themselves and their “full potential.” Paul shows us that God has other plans. We don’t know what Paul’s “thorn in the flesh” was. What we do know about it is that it was not only allowed by God, but commanded by God to make Paul strong through his knowledge of his weakness. Many believers do not understand this core concept of the faith but it is represented all throughout scripture. God presents his wisdom through man’s foolishness. Paul understood and accepted that it was better for him to be weak than to be autonomous from God. He understood that his human nature needed something to mute his pride. He called this necessary and good. In our own lives, we can often be tempted to find these wrinkles and smooth them out. God doesn’t necessarily want this for us. He often wants to use them to tell his story of triumph. The scars upon Jesus’ resurrected hands, were a necessary evidence for the Thomases of the world, that following God is not without its cost. We should not be ashamed of our Christian walk being messy as long as it is sincere in its efforts to trust and obey. God can use us even in our weaknesses. We must let him.
JOSH McGARY. COM 