Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 2 Corinthians 12:7-9
Jesus told us to stop judging others, to look at the log in our own eye instead of at the splinter in someone else’s eye. The Apostle Paul in talking about the “thorn in his flesh,” seems to have become very sensitive to and very aware of the “log in his own eye.
I believe that God has given each of us a “thorn in the flesh,” to humble us and to help us recognize that we cannot make it alone, that we need His help to become the kind of people we want to be and He wants us to be. I believe that the thorn he has given us is directly tied to the gifts and talents that he wants us to use in His Spirit, out of our love for Him and for each other. I believe that the thorn in our flesh is the dark side of those gifts, the side we see when we use them “in the flesh,” to serve ourselves often at the expense of others.
There has been much speculation about the exact nature of the thorn in Paul’s flesh, but that’s all it is, speculation. I am less concerned about the specific nature of his thorn than I am about what his words seem to imply a thorn is. From Paul’s words I realize that my thorn is something that get’s me into trouble (it humbles me). It is something that I can’t control on my own no matter how hard I try. Finally it is something that God is not going to take away. The thorn is there for a reason, and it serves a purpose. It is there to keep me humble. More than that, it is a tool that God uses to continue the process by which I become transformed ever so slowly into the image of His Son. It is there to help me become a more caring, loving, forgiving, person.
Jesus told us to stop judging others, to look at the log in our own eye instead of at the splinter in someone else’s eye. The Apostle Paul in talking about the “thorn in his flesh,” seems to have become very sensitive to and very aware of the “log in his own eye.
I believe that God has given each of us a “thorn in the flesh,” to humble us and to help us recognize that we cannot make it alone, that we need His help to become the kind of people we want to be and He wants us to be. I believe that the thorn he has given us is directly tied to the gifts and talents that he wants us to use in His Spirit, out of our love for Him and for each other. I believe that the thorn in our flesh is the dark side of those gifts, the side we see when we use them “in the flesh,” to serve ourselves often at the expense of others.
There has been much speculation about the exact nature of the thorn in Paul’s flesh, but that’s all it is, speculation. I am less concerned about the specific nature of his thorn than I am about what his words seem to imply a thorn is. From Paul’s words I realize that my thorn is something that get’s me into trouble (it humbles me). It is something that I can’t control on my own no matter how hard I try. Finally it is something that God is not going to take away. The thorn is there for a reason, and it serves a purpose. It is there to keep me humble. More than that, it is a tool that God uses to continue the process by which I become transformed ever so slowly into the image of His Son. It is there to help me become a more caring, loving, forgiving, person.