Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 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 about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10

The Church in Corinth is infamous for their problems. They had disunity, permissive attitudes toward sin, troubles with false teachers and all sorts.

Paul chose to address these problems by listing his own “problems”. Everything that should have recommended him to them, he lists and then casts aside. Every hardship he has faced counts as the true qualification for his ministry; every temptation he has overcome or torment he has endured shows his faithfulness to God better than any pedigree.

How can Paul say he delights in weaknesses? “What nonsense!”, we might think. Strength is more than necessary, it is everything. A person who lacks strength is as good as dead! Ah, but we have died and now Jesus lives through us. So through our weakness, He is strong.

Ethan Kirl