2 Corinthians 12:7-9 (NASB)
7 Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself!
8 Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me.
9 And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

Paul was taken through a couple of stages to bring him to complete humility in Christ. The first stage was understanding the truth of humility; that in order for us to have the full power of Christ in our lives, we must die to self. The second stage was the “thorn in the flesh” that reminded him that God’s grace is completely sufficient.

I think that I’m still in the first stage. I understand that God must increase and that I must decrease. But, I’m guessing that I am like many other Christians in that humility, although we know in our heads that it is what we are called to do, in our hearts it seems to be a bondage that takes away something that we aren’t yet ready to give up.

If we are not very careful, the Christian life can be a lure towards pride rather than allowing the perfection of weakness that we must become in order to be strong in Christ. After all we are special, aren’t we? We have Jesus. And so, pride may grow in us during our times of our greatest experiences. Think about these. What if we experience personal pride when we are involved in bringing another to Christ? What if we are blessed as a gifted teacher who then secretly enjoys the admiration of students or a congregation? What if we enjoy the praises of others when we give our personal testimony? What if I begin to enjoy the compliments from others as I moderate a blog about prayer?

God gave Paul a “thorn in his flesh”. The fact that the specific challenge was never mentioned in scripture I think was very intentional. Your thorn and my thorn will probably be very different. Those special thorns, if we accept them, will be things that completely take away any desire to exalt ourselves. And God knows what they are, and we probably know that truth too, hidden deep in our hearts.

Jesus, help the humility you want from me to be more than just knowledge of scripture. Draw this to my heart so that I can truly crave weakness, knowing in my soul that your grace is completely sufficient. Amen.

Always praying for the glory of God,