2 Corinthians 12:7-10 [Epiphany 6]
Pastor Ron Koehler
Grace—Benson/Vail, AZ
February 17, 2017
Dear friends in Christ, One of the greatest struggles we endure is that of suffering with something long-term. It could be a prolonged illness or battle with a condition or a disease, like a severe allergy that could lead to death or fighting cancer. It could be something that occurred in our childhood that has a lingering, life-long effect. It could be a sinful habit that we can’t shake. Or maybe it is the consequence of something we did that brought harm to us or to others and still causes hurt and regret. What do we do with something like that which won’t entirely go away? It is a burden. We wish it wasn’t so. We’d like it to be different, to have never happened. Are we simply left to suffer? Is there no answer? How does this kind of thing fit with faith in God and life as his child? If you would like a God-pleasing way to approach this kind of thing…if you would like an answer, some kind of relief…if you would like an example to follow…then consider the Apostle Paul and what he wrote to Christian friends about his issue. He personally dealt with this kind of thing and he did it in faith. He reached out to God and found an answer and several blessings as well. What Paul found out was that… God’s Grace is Enough 1. It Provides Blessings (7b) 2. It Prevents Pride (7a,c) 3. It Proclaims God’s Power (8-9a) 4. It Produces Trust (9b-10) It Provides Blessings (7b) Just prior to the words of our lesson, Paul had written about the incredible visions God gave to him. He doesn’t give a lot of detail, but they were so spectacular that he wasn’t even sure if they were simply visions or if God had actually taken him physically and showed him heaven! At any rate, it was the kind of experience that could turn a privileged person to pride. It is pretty clear as we read about the life of Paul, that he was not deserving of God’s love. He was a man who formerly persecuted Christians and tried to stamp out the Christian church by killing its members. Everyone would agree that a guy like that should have been stamped out by God—crushed like the cockroach of person he was under the divine shoe of the almighty Lord of heaven and earth! But we know, that’s not what God did. Sudden blindness…baptism…instruction by Christ himself…and he was literally a new man. His terrible sins forgiven, he was turned loose by God to spread the saving gospel to many people in many lands. Given his past, Paul is a shining example of the blessings of God’s grace in a person’s life, isn’t he?