My favorite quote from the bible goes a little something like this “But he said to me ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.’ I would rather boast most gladly of my weakness, in order that the power of Christ may dwell in me.” (2 Cor 12:9)
Recently someone asked me what my favorite bible verse was. I responded with the above. When I was asked why it was my favorite verse I recalled why I heard it in the first place. It was last year during a mission trip that I had taken through my dioceses to St. Augustine Texas. Towards the end of our stay in St. Augustine, the people we were working with (Next Step Ministries) had arranged to bring in some Catholic priests so we could participate in confession. This was a bigger deal than I’m making is sound because the area that we were in had only one catholic priest in the nearest hundred miles or so, and they somehow managed to bring in three of them.
When it was my turn to meet with the priest I poured out all that had accumulated in me over the course of our stay in Texas. I confessed about things that had somehow become a part of my everyday life. I was ashamed of them and was hardly able look at the priest. I asked for guidance and for God to rid me of them. When I was finished I was finally able to look at the priest and see only a soft comforting smile on his face. “You are too hard on yourself” he told me. I was baffled, I couldn’t stand the things I had confessed and I know they are nothing to be proud of, but now I was being told that I was too hard on myself. That was when he gave me this verse.
Paul (author of corinthians 1&2) in the two verses prior says “…a thorn in the flesh was given to me, an angel of Satan to beat me, to keep me from being too elated. Three times I begged the Lord about this, that it might leave me,” (2 Cor 12:7-8).
The entire chapter is about Paul writing about his Godly experiences. He writes that he doesn’t talk about the moments when he was closest to God. He does this because he wishes people to judge him by only what he says and what he does on a daily basis, not how holy he says he is. When we get to verses 7 and 8 Paul tells us about a thorn in his flesh. Something that hinders him from being all that he wishes to be, and something that keeps him from worshiping God the way that he wants to. Initially Paul thinks that this is what is preventing him from being the best that he can be for God. So he prays to God to take the throne from him. He begs three time for God to relieve him of it, but God says “no”. It is because of the thorn that Paul comes to God. Without it he would be perfectly fine on his own, and wouldn’t need God.
This is not to say that God is selfish and only leaves Paul with the thorn in his flesh to keep him coming back. The Thorn makes Paul question God and in the resolution of the hardship trust him that much more.
I remember leaving the confessional a bit astounded by how much these verses connected with me both going into and upon leaving confession. I realize now that God wants us to have hardships, not because He is twisted, but because it is when times are hard that we find ourselves turning to Him. It is easy to preach about God’s greatness when atop a spiritual mountain, but it’s the difficult climb to the top that makes us appreciate him. This is what the tenth verse is about, “Therefore I am content with weakness, insults,hardships, persecutions, and constraints, for the sake of Christ, for when I am weak then I am strong” (2 Cor 12:10)
There is just one thing that just doesn’t sound right to me in these four short verses, and that is being content with weakness. Now, I understand that we all will have difficulties throughout our lives and we should be content in that they will happen, but in my case my hardships are more personal and there of my own accord. This, I believe, makes contentment less acceptable. I do not wish to be ok with my weakness, but rather to seek my strength through God by overcoming it. I want to do more for God because he has done so much for me and I do not wish to be content with what I have already done.
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Wow it has been a long time. Almost 4 months to be exact. That’s really bad considering I am supposed to be writing one blog a month before I leave for the race. Just to reassure some of you… no I’m not dead and yes I am still going on the race. In fact if you read my last blog post (If you can even call it a blog) I am fully funded. As some of you will know I had an incredible sponsorship right at the end of my wrestling season and as a result completed all of my fundraising for the race.
Also since my last post I finished off my wrestling season 41-7 (didn’t make it to state though??) . I got a new job for the summer were I will be building houses (but mostly I’ll just be moving wood and getting thing for the actual carpenters). I GRADUATED ??(not going to lie, I’m kind of going to miss it (only a little though). And I recently found myself with a lot more free time (maybe I’ll post more than once in the next 3 months).
I ask that those of you who can, please consider donating to my squad you can find their profiles by clicking on the link at the top of the page on the left hand side that says: Meet My Squad: Gap Year Route 2 (Sept ’17). Thank you so much for your support and stay tuned for more posts.
