Used properly, this could make you a better person …

It’s an uncommon thing to see someone in a mall or a Starbucks dressed like a super star ready to go on stage.

It’s not too often you see someone wearing clothes covered with rhinestones and glitter at a gas station. Not many super stars roll up in limos to a 7-11 to grab a quick snack.

But most superstars aren’t shy about projecting their status to the world. That is, unless you’re the Apostle Paul.

Paul was a Gospel “super star.” No doubt, he easily could have been a proud man for all God accomplished through him.

But that’s just it … God accomplished great things through Paul. And to help Paul make sure he didn’t become proud, God placed in Paul a “thorn in the flesh” — a weakness — to keep him humble (you can read about it in 2 Corinthians 12, starting with verse 10). After begging God on three different occasions to remove the thorn, Paul finally surrendered to God’s will and embraced his weakness as a means of discovering God’s greater strength.

It’s that last step that is a great example for us, but one some of us miss.

It is not uncommon to find in any church someone who tweaks Paul’s example and, instead of allowing their weakness to keep them humble before the Lord, they use their weakness as a source of pride.

Instead of relenting of their “thorn,” they display it front and center in their lives by constantly despairing of their woes. They become known as the person who is plagued by X. They relentlessly tell of the suffering they face because of their thorn; they cultivate sympathy for their sorrows, draw attention to their plight, and morph their thorn into their identity with others.

And so, what was meant to help them be humble before the Lord and seeking His strength is used in a twisted way as an expression of warped pride. On more than one occasion, I’ve heard several such people boast how they will never apologize for their behavior regarding “all they suffer.” What they’re really saying is they refuse to give up their pride and accept their thorn for the holy purpose God provided it.

Paul became a better man because of his thorn.

Will you?

Scotty