denial

If the gospel teaches us anything, it stresses how desperate our spiritual condition is apart from God. We need His grace or we have no hope. Fighting sin in our own strength is a losing battle. Dedicating ourselves to the will of the Lord is hard enough but staying committed? We’ll fall short!

How do we handle our weaknesses? What are our options?

Denial

We can deny them. Why deal with something that doesn’t exist? It’s a clever and convenient way to keep ourselves from facing some hard truths. And if our lives are falling apart, well, that’s someone else’s fault.

Defeat

Or we can take responsibility for our infirmities. A commendable approach, but few of us stop here. We may take the rap for failing to live up to the standards we promote, but blame transforms into condemnation. We reject ourselves as unworthy of compliments or kindness. We’ve let down the Lord and deserve punishment.

Neither option helps us. Either way, we isolate ourselves and remain stuck in our problems, unable to find freedom.

But there’s a third choice.

Boasting!

Come again?

Yes, we can decide to brag about our weaknesses. Sounds strange but this is the tactic deployed by the apostle Paul.

Boast

“I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord.” – 2 Corinthians 12:1

Paul’s conflicted. For the benefit of the church he feels compelled to plumb this subject, but he worries he could waste his time. So why bother?

“I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know–God knows. ³And I know that this man–whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows– ⁴was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell. ⁵I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses.” – 2 Corinthians 12:2-5

If we Christians brag about anything, we will do so about spiritual experiences. This provides us cover. We gain recognition for praising God that He granted us a supernatural adventure but we imply that we  deserved it. We’re good at this trick!

Paul brags with subtlety and misdirection. He confines his boasting to spiritual experiences, but insists that these happened to someone else! Far from being a religious powerhouse who has visions of heaven, he claims to be only a feeble saint. Paul restricts his bravado to his weaknesses. But why prate about them?

“Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, ⁷or because of these surpassingly great revelations.” – 2 Corinthians 12:6-7a

As humorist Will Rogers said, “it ain’t bragging if it’s true!” That’s Paul’s attitude here. He neither exaggerates his spiritual experiences nor allows the Corinthians to use them as an excuse to exalt him. Why not? Does he fret he couldn’t handle the adulation?

“Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. ⁸Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.” – 2 Corinthians 12:7b-8

God doesn’t like pride. To prevent it from taking root in Paul’s life, the Lord had two choices. He could block Paul from encountering the miraculous or He could permit the enemy to harass him. God allowed the latter but Paul wasn’t pleased. Not once, not twice, but three times the apostle urged that God remove this barb. In the context of Scripture (see Deuteronomy 19:15; 2 Corinthians 13:1), Paul’s threefold request amounted to the filing of a charge or a lawsuit. He’s serious.

We have no details about the thorn other than it’s a messenger of the devil, an evil spirit eager to disrupt Paul’s life and ministry.

“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. ¹⁰That 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 12:9-10

God’s grace comes in many forms. Paul witnessed the Lord do amazing works in his missionary journeys–sick bodies healed, demons cast out, sinners saved. Miracles accompanied Paul’s ministry; he knew the grace of God in action. Now, the apostle was learning the grace of endurance, of weakness.

So Paul repeats himself. In verses 5 and 9, he brags about his weaknesses; in verse 10, he delights in them. Why?

Because that’s the secret of his strength.

In verse 9, Paul sets up an “if-then” sequence: if I do this, then that will happen.

“If I boast in my weaknesses, then the power of Christ will rest upon me.”

Why did Paul boast about his weaknesses? Simple.

No boasting, no power!

More than anything, Paul wanted to serve his Savior with fruitfulness. And he knew that he wasn’t up to the task. On his own, he sought to destroy the church (see Acts 8:3; 9:1-2) but to build God’s house lay beyond his talents or capabilities.

Yet weakness wasn’t a reason to quit. Paul counted on the anointing of the Spirit to perform through him what he could never achieve unaided. His weaknesses provided the conditions in which the Lord would do the impossible. The grace of God in action.

Application

Do you feel you can’t live up to your calling? Don’t dispute your hunch, but don’t let it destroy you, either. Instead, use your vulnerabilities as opportunities for grandstanding. God’s not offended by them and when you brag about your limitations, the power of Jesus Christ will rest upon you.

Power to magnify the Lord and bless hurting souls–it’s yours.

All you have to do is boast about your flaws!

Can you do it? What will it cost you? What will you gain?