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Scripture for the day: 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 "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."
Thought for the day: I think it’s important to talk about the desire to be like Jesus; to live our lives as a reflection, however poorly, of His own perfect life. We recognize the determination it takes on our part to even attempt to do such a thing and how much we need His presence and power in our lives if there is to be any hope at all of being like Jesus. Nevertheless, He called us out of the world and into a life of holiness, or Christlikeness, when He said, "Be ye holy, for I am holy." He even used the word 'perfect' at the end of the sermon on the mount to describe what our relationship is to be with the God who has called us out of darkness into the light of His salvation. I don't know how you feel about the idea of perfection but I'm pretty much convinced I'll never be anywhere near that goal in this life. There are too many faults and failings still infesting my being to ever hope for perfection. But is that really what He meant?
We know He was perfect in all His ways, and yet even Jesus got angry when he saw people disrespecting His Father's house. He got sad when people didn't respond to His expressions of love for them. He was disappointed in His disciples when they failed to understand His mission. Jesus wasn't without emotion and His plans didn't always work the way He'd perhaps wished they would. The difference was that He so completely relied on the Father that the trials and temptations of this world had no real hold on Him. He wasn't influenced by the conditions under which He lived and worked. Could it be that when Jesus spoke of our need to be 'perfect' He wasn't speaking of absolute perfection but simply meant that we should be completely in line with the Father's will for us; that we should so completely rely on the strength and wisdom of the Father that the things of the world, good or bad, would have no hold on us?
Jesus told the disciples "Without Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). He also said, "I do nothing on My own but speak just what the Father has taught Me" (John 8:28). And again He said to them, "If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, nothing will be impossible for you" (Matthew 17:20). And how was all this to come about, this power for living and for service, this "perfection" before the Lord? The disciples, Paul, and many after them have experienced the presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives to the degree that they have become completely dependent on His leading and His power for living each and every day. Jesus never intended for us to do it all on our own. He knew we'd never make it. Fallen man, the sin nature within us is too strong a foe for us to fight on our own. We need the Holy Spirit to help us in our infirmities. That's why He was promised by Jesus and delivered by the Father.
God's answer to Paul in response to his plea for the removal of his "thorn in the flesh", was "No, I think I'll let you live with it so you'll learn to lean on Me." God knew Paul intimately, just as He does you and me. He knew Paul could easily become vain and prideful over the revelations God had given him and because of his prestige in the church. So He allowed this infirmity to plague Paul all his days as a means of reminding him that God was still the one from whom all power for living must come. If God had removed all difficulties from Paul's life, he would have been very grateful but how long would it have been before Paul would have forgotten the God who performed such miracles in his life? How long did the children of Israel take to forget the parting of the Red Sea before they began to complain about their lack of water? We all tend to forget the good things God has done for us in the press of everyday life and sometimes He has to leave us with an on-going problem to remind us of our need to trust Him.
No, God doesn't always remove the thorns from our lives but when they hurt the worst we can hear God's gentle reminder, "My grace is sufficient for you. Lean on Me, my child." Let us learn to rejoice then in our infirmities for when we are the weakest, and turn to Him for the help we need, then we become strong.
Now go take on your world. - Bill