Grace is sufficient
I have recently been reading and reflecting on a portion of the Apostle Paul’s second letter to the Corinthian churches, found in Chapter 12, verses 1-10, and I have become increasingly fascinated with the outlook he presents. Paul initially writes about boasting or glorying in high spiritual experiences, such as visions and revelations. Obviously, he has experienced numerous visions and revelations, could easily tell of them, and in verse six he points out that he would not be stretching the truth to do so. But, he goes on to say that he refrains from boasting of them and glorying in them, because he doesn’t want to give people a self-created impression of himself based on claims he makes; he wants them to gain an impression of him from what they hear from him and what they observe in the life he lives.
The drive to tell of things that make us look good to others, or make us feel good about ourselves, is strongly imbedded in our human nature. Yet, Paul sees little or no good coming from this boasting or glorying. Who is not driven on occasion to recount grand moments about himself, or to describe again high experiences he has had? Sometimes doing so produces a feeling of being buoyed up, and of making an impression and receiving recognition for it. But, obviously, Paul sees this lifting up of oneself as having a downside, as introducing a bit of puffery into one’s own self-image, and as being a distraction from the life focused in Christ Jesus and his saving gospel.
In verse seven, Paul writes a remarkable thing: “And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure.” (II Cor. 12:7 KJV). Other biblical translations, such as the RSV, speak of this “exalted above measure” as “being too elated.” Would you agree that this is a remarkable statement? Sometimes we assume that the higher the feeling of happiness, the more intense the feeling of elation, the more powerful the pleasure, the more overwhelming the joy, the better! This is the “more is always better” philosophy. People may go to great lengths to reproduce a re- membered high emotion, or to gain a higher high than was attained before. I have a sense that this drive fuels the drug culture, with it’s warping of human emotions, and it’s undermining of a sound outlook on life. And everywhere, it undermines the needed resilience of faith and Christ-focused outlook that people need to live well in the midst of the vulnerabilities, discomforts and troubles of our real world.
Paul never tells us specifically what was his thorn in the flesh. We could speculate widely. Some think maybe he had an eye problem. Some think possibly he had recurring pains that would not go away. He describes how three times he sought the Lord, that it should leave him. But the answer he found was, “My Grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” From this, his outlook becomes, “Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.”
I hear this telling us that faith does not necessarily remove all of life’s problems and afflictions from us. In fact, the Apostle sees many of our human weaknesses, vulnerabilities and bothersome things in general as being ways through which our experience of Christ’s wholeness and power may be even stronger and fuller. We used to describe a person who was over-confident about having everything under control as “he thinks he has the world by the tail!” I believe Paul shows that trying to get the world by the tail, or to live by constant emotional highs, is a downer and a loss. He encourages us to discover the abundance of life in Jesus Christ, and to know that even irritations and frustrations which beset us may end up helping in that discovery and experience of the Lord.
Editor’s note: Jerry Nichols, a native of Pea Ridge, is a retired Methodist minister with a passion for history. He is vice president of the Pea Ridge Historical Society. He can be contacted by e-mail at joe369@centurytel.net, or call 621-1621.