Paul perseveres

March  23

Read 2 Corinthians 11:23-30 and reflect on the passage.

When Peggy and I first read the passage for today, we thought we Must have looked up the wrong passage. I mean this is a devotional, this should be encouraging, a light story with a point. But no, this was the right passage. Paul boasts about his suffering: being in prison, beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, and left for dead.

As we began to talk, we thought about what we would write on a résumé or obituary: accomplishments, awards, and who we know; the many Bible studies we have led; special moments like being in the first Tetélestai, meeting the President of the United States, having dinner with Elisabeth Eliot, taking John Ness to camp—a very different list then Paul’s.

It would be easy to feel bad until we remembered the privilege of watching God work: sitting in hospital rooms with dying men and women, crying over lost children, presiding over funerals, visiting students in treatment centers or jail. To be honest we often did not have answers, but in our weakness God worked. How is God using your weakness this season? “If I must boast, I boast of things that show my weakness.”


Questions

1. What would your list of boasts look like?

2. Have you asked God to join you in your difficulties?

Prayer

Father, help us not get caught in our own accomplishments. Teach us to let You use our pain and weakness so You may be glorified.

—Joe and Peggy Valentino