Thank God For The Thorns

I was trying to figure out how this text really fit into the Epiphany season - a time to see the light of Christ shine out to the world. Then it came to me. The glorious thing in this text is the way that Paul RESPONDED to his thorn. He believed that God had a telos - a higher purpose for his suffering, and that changed his entire outlook. How many people let the thorns in their lives make them miserable? They become dark and disposed and angry with life? But what did Paul do with the thorn that wouldn’t go away? I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties, for the sake of Christ. For whenever I am weak, then am I strong. His thorn made him all the more delightful! Instead of letting it bury him in darkness and shame, he gloried in it when it led him to grace.

Some of the greatest witnesses in life are those who have the greatest thorns in life and yet find God’s grace all the more sufficient for them. I think of a former member here, Mark Hayes. Even though he has lost more and more mobility over the years, he has maintained his sense of humor and thankful attitude through his ALS. Kim Stock was a quadriplegic who continued to profess his faith in spite of his severe disabilities near the end of his life. The person with Downs Syndrome who only knows happiness in Jesus. Those who have been through the ringer with difficult marriages or problems with children or bosses, who show grace and mercy like nobody else. When they still manage to cling to Jesus and His mercy through the insults and the hardships they become all the more beautiful and attractive to others in their lives because of their weaknesses.

It seems like an impossible thing to do, to become more delightful the more weak you become. But God’s grace worked a miracle in Paul, and this same God can do the same for you and through you. When we stop getting angry with God and the world over the thorns . . . when we drive ourselves to God’s grace and mercy all the more . . . that’s when the glory of God shines through the brightest. In a world of anger and bitterness, here’s someone who’s thankful, who’s grateful, who’s full of hope. Why? Because you know you’re forgiven. You know you’re loved. You know heaven is yours in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Could you be that person?

Even if you just can’t seem to respond that way, the good news is that Jesus was. He pleaded three times also, in the Garden of Gethsemane, for God to take the cup from Him. When God’s answer was no, what did Jesus do? He boldly went forth to the cross in confidence. Hebrews 12.2 says, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” Yes, He clearly saw the end game of His cross. He’d have a world of forgiven sinners in the end. That’s what gave Him courage. That’s what gave Him joy in the end. It’s what enabled Him to go to the cross and speak such words of grace, even from the cross. He knows the end game He wants for you too. It’s a good one, a perfect one, in heaven, with Him.