I Wanna Be Like Mike Paul Me!

To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me 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:-10 (NIV)

What a tough pill to swallow. We all have those 'thorns' in our side. Something we repeatedly have to deal with and just won't go away. Yours could be poor health, addiction, depression, destructive thought patterns, just about anything. There is even a theory that Paul's 'thorn' was a wife! Maybe yours is an uncooperative or even abusive spouse. Whatever it is, we plead and plead with God to relieve us. We ask over and over again for Him to remove us from it or the situation or just plain 'fix' whatever is wrong with us (or sometimes another person) so we can move on. Sometimes we feel our thorn is holding us back. We think that without it we could go on to be Super Christian, saving the whole world if it was not for this. But that kind of thinking is incorrect. We see that demonstrated in the verses above. We usually think of Paul as a Super Christian. Traipsing all over the world, getting beaten up physically and mentally, thrown in jail, put in house arrest and being generally hated, all the while saving people and making disciples left and right. We do not think of him having a weakness. "Why can't I be like Paul?" I have found myself asking that question on more than one occasion. I tend to romanticize the trials we have, thinking he wore the scars he inevitably collected as badges of honor, showing them off to those he came in contact with. But here Paul is, laying out his humanity to show us that everybody deals with something.

I know many people who I look up to and think, "Why can't I be like that?" But I would not be me if I was like them. I could not reach the people I do if I was like someone else. I would be a cheap imitation, as easy to spot as a fake Rolex. Paul was truly unique. But he was also flawed. He was not Jesus, as I sometimes make him out to be. He was human. He had faults and 'thorns' just as we all do. He suffered through real difficulties, too. The difference between him and me is that he followed God's call in spite of that. He didn't let it hold him back. He understood that, after much prayer, God uses our weaknesses. Sometimes we need those weaknesses so that we do lean on Him. Those are part of His master plan. We are not supposed to become God; we are to strive to let Him shine through us, reflecting Him. We are made perfect through Christ when we let work through us despite our imperfections. So, my job on earth is not to become like Paul or like anyone else. My job is to let God shine through me, with all my thorns, flaws and humanity, so that I may reach those who share the same condition.

God, allow me to shine for you even in the midst of trials, difficulties and my own flaws. Show me your strength even in weakness. Amen

Nikki Hamsher