Before I came to Christ in a saving manner I often
wondered what kind of God would allow His own to suffer, whether if it was from
terminal cancer, death and or incurable disease….I had a hard time I should
confess wrapping my mind around this concept but by all due respect that was my
ignorant non-Christian mind…a mind with no Holy Spirit guide and a mind without
God’s wisdom, once in salvation I made it my business to understand more-more
of this God I once questioned, and! Low-and-behold a great revelation came
upon me and this time around I am proud to say it was through the guidance of the Holy
Spirit and long sought out wisdom through God and through my own personal forbearance
I understood exactly what kind of God we serve!
Theologians have invested great time in researching
the “thorn in Paul’s flesh,” which is evidence that some really want to relate to Paul's thorn or just want to know what it was, the pieces of scripture and or great sources
of reference have succored with my research which has been more than a great “Wealth
of interesting information” to be able to read and understand the different views of some
in which I thoroughly respect, however through some scriptures like, 2
Corinthians 12:7, 2 Corinthians 11:24-26, Acts 13:45, Galatians 4:13….And the
lists of Bible verses pertaining to this
subject are endless-these are to name a few….and through out I have yet come
across a “specific” mention of this “thorn” that Paul spoke of and when I state
specific I literally mean specific in terms of what the diagnosis/ prognosis
was this “thorn” Paul suffered from without the dilution of man-made
interpretations, despite the somewhat suspense
of the “thorn” in Paul’s flesh in which I personally enjoy taking the layman
approach-by the way only because for years like most despite my unsaved
questions I bore and still bare a thorn in my flesh…don’t worry it's not a
pimple, freckle, mole, beauty mark or anything located superficially on my
flesh, rather it’s an interesting thorn-a thorn that left me in quandary before
coming to Christ of whether or not an individual like I could be loved genuinely,
would I be able to live a normal life in lieu to my “thorn?” questions arose in
the brinks of desperation but I am here to tell you that the discovery of Christ
in my life has eased my once objective thinking to an optimistic and grateful
thinking through God's transformation-you see…intimately knowing God and loving Him has allowed me to
embrace this once nagging “thorn” in my life….I now know for a fact that my “thorn”
allows me to maintain a coat of humility
and reminds me constantly that I too am human and need the Lord more
than I have ever needed Him despite the work He does through me and sometimes
in life we do need such reminders, I am often reminded of the time that Paul begged
God to take the “thorn” away and God reminds Paul that; “He is all he needs and
nothing else should matter,” (That’s my interpretation of course of 2
Corinthians 12:8-9) the “thorn” in my flesh has allowed me to become dependent
on God for strength which has allowed my faith to grow, it has also believe-it-or-not shielded me from bad life
decisions, because God has called you to Ministry doesn't mean you are 100%
pure of all “thorns,” don’t let your “thorn” hold you back from experiencing
God’s best in your life, Paul traveled and planted churches and healed the sick
but his “thorn” is a positive constant reminder that even the man/woman of God
can have a “Flaw” and God can know it-and choose to do absolutely nothing about
it because at the end of it all He is all you need!
Memory
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