AND YOU THINK YOU’VE HAD A DAY!
2 Corinthians 11:22-28 NLT
22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I. 23 Are they servants of Christ? I know I sound like a madman, but I have served him far more! I have worked harder, been put in prison more often, been whipped times without number, and faced death again and again. 24 Five different times the Jewish leaders gave me thirty-nine lashes. 25 Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked. Once I spent a whole night and a day adrift at sea. 26 I have traveled on many long journeys. I have faced danger from rivers and from robbers. I have faced danger from my own people, the Jews, as well as from the Gentiles. I have faced danger in the cities, in the deserts, and on the seas. And I have faced danger from men who claim to be believers but are not. 27 I have worked hard and long, enduring many sleepless nights. I have been hungry and thirsty and have often gone without food. I have shivered in the cold, without enough clothing to keep me warm.
28 Then, besides all this, I have the daily burden of my concern for all the churches.
My heart goes out to the victims of natural disasters. As I write this, first responders and rescue teams are still looking for the people who were swept away in the July Fourth Hill Country flash floods. These people and their loved ones are true victims, and I hope you will join me in praying for the families that were impacted.
So I am not talking about the people who experienced unexpected tragedy. I am talking about the days that are irritating and troublesome. The days where the problems we face just don’t seem to go away. The hard days. The days when we feel like giving up, throwing in the towel, and quitting this Christian life. We have all had them. But passages such as the one we read in the eleventh chapter today are helpful for putting things into perspective. I have had some bad days in my life. But I can attest to the fact that I have not dealt with anything on the level of the apostle Paul.
Paul is defending his position as an apostle of Jesus Christ. False apostles have influenced the church at Corinth against Paul, so he is laying out why his position in Christ and his ministry stand stronger and higher than these fake preachers. Paul is not basing his ministry on his great speaking ability but what he has endured for the sake of the gospel. And what he endured was mind-boggling.
Paul starts with his Jewish heritage, and when he compares himself to the fake preachers, he lists the things he went through as a servant of Christ. Paul is saying that these false preachers think they are servants of Christ? Here is what validates my ministry—beatings, prison, and facing death more than once. Five times, Paul received thirty-nine lashes from the Jews. Wait, what? Five times? That’s 195 lashes. How many of us would have been tempted to quit after the first thirty-nine lashes? Don’t raise your hand. Paul was beaten with rods three times. Our country exploded with indignation a number of years ago when a young American was caught vandalizing cars in Singapore. The sentence was six lashes, and it strained relationships between the US and Singapore. His sentence was reduced to four lashes, but it was a big deal. Paul was beaten three separate times with canes, and who knows the number he received each time? Probably more than four.
Paul was a strong man with a strong relationship with God. So I use his example not to shame but to inspire. We have the capacity to become stronger spiritually, which results in an ability to push past the difficulties of this life. Paul wrote in this same letter to the Corinthians that he viewed his problems and afflictions as light and temporary. That’s an amazing perspective, and I will conclude with his words. There is no way I could say it any better.
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, while we do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen. For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are not seen are eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-18) NKJ
PRAYER
Lord, help me develop a perspective that is similar to what Paul expressed. Help me to realize this life is temporary. But I am a part of Your eternal kingdom. Help me to see the bigger picture so that I do not lose heart.