“MY WEAKNESSES!”

2 Corinthians 12:1-10                            (ESV)

“1 I must go on boasting. Though there is nothing to be gained by it, I will go on to visions and revelations of the LORD.

2 I know a man in CHRIST who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven-whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, GOD knows.

3 And I know that this man was caught up into paradise-whether in the body or out of the body I do not know, GOD knows-

4 and he heard things that cannot be told, which man may not utter.

5 On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of “MY WEAKNESSES”-

6 though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth; but I refrain from it, so that NO ONE MAY THINK MORE OF ME than he sees in me or hears from me.

7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, A THORN WAS GIVEN ME in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited.

8 THREE TIMES I pleaded with the LORD about this, that it should leave me.

9 But HE said to me, "MY grace is sufficient for you, for MY power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of “MY WEAKNESSES”, so that the power of CHRIST may rest upon me.

10 For the sake of CHRIST, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

There is much to be said about the Apostle Paul’s message in 2 Corinthians 12, so much that I will only scratch the surface.  To begin with, Paul  was permitted to “be caught up to the third Heaven”, but (other than writing to the church at Corinth) he didn’t try to make a huge public spectacle of his experience.  In fact, Paul wrote, I “heard things that cannot be told, which MAN MAY NOT UTTER”.  Just because we experience some things doesn’t mean we are to try and use them for our Glory!  

What the Apostle Paul DID share with us is “MY WEAKNESSES”, A THORN THAT WAS GIVEN ME in the flesh that humbled him greatly.  Paul doesn’t come right out and say what THE THORN was, he was certain that it was meant “to keep me from becoming conceited”, therefore drawing man’s glory to him rather than THE ALMIGHTY!  

This journey we are engaged in is NOT all about what we can accomplish during our time on earth, but rather what GOD is able to USE us to perform for HIS Glory!  If we are “weak”, the power of CHRIST is allowed be made manifest in our lives.  We therefore should BOAST of “MY WEAKNESSES” and shift ALL of the Glory to the ONE WHO deserves it in the first place.  

While it is true that I have “MY WEAKNESSES” that I would truly love to overcome, I will relish in the fact that the sacrifice of JESUS is sufficient for ALL of my sins.  For HIM to be Glorified should be our focus, not on “our goodness”, which is “filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6) in HIS sight!