A passage that has always stood out to me is 2 Corinthians 12:1-10. We see Paul struggling with the sins and problems of this world, and he is praying for God to take away this struggle. He talks with God, and God tells Paul that through Paul’s weakness, God’s power will be made perfect. The passage ends with Paul being content, and he understands, “For when I am weak, then I am strong.” The portion that always stood out is the fact that this thorn is never leaving the flesh of Paul. His weakness is still left intact. Even though Paul has prayed to God, this pain never left him. I have always wondered why God did not remove this from His follower until I became an adult. 

In the home I grew up in, whenever I was struggling with something in life, I had one of my parents to lean on to help me. No matter what the problem was, I knew they would be there. Once I grew up and decided it was time to be an adult and start handling things on my own, I realized how having someone to lean on gave me a sense of security and power. I had to fight the desire to fall back to my parents for help just to feel safe again. I believed that going through these hard times was what was going to make me stronger in the end. I was following the mindset of the great philosopher, Alfred Pennyworth, who said, “We fall so that we can learn to pick ourselves back up.” 

I did not realize as a child how difficult it is to live in this world. There is sin around every corner that tries to call you in and make your life miserable. That is when I discovered something about God and this passage. When we are at our weakest, we realize we are in need of someone that is stronger than the situation in which we find ourselves. That is where God comes in and helps. In my weakness, I realized how much I truly needed Him. His perfection and power shined into my life when I did not think there was light at the end of the tunnel. Even though He did not pull me out of the struggles and take the thorn out, He gave me that person to lean on. We do not fall so that we can learn to pick ourselves back up. Instead, we fall so that we can learn to put our trust in God to help pick us back up. When I am at my weakest point, my relationship and bond with Him become stronger, and for that, I am content.  

I was five years old when I accepted Jesus Christ as my Savior. The problem was that at that age, I did not understand that concept of my life needing to change. This idea that my life was no longer my own did not make sense. I went through the majority of my childhood, living my life for my own enjoyment. It was not until I was 17 that I realized something was wrong and missing. There was one of those moments in life that hit me, right in the gut, and I will never forget it. I was hanging out with my friends from school, being a “normal” high school student, when one of my unsaved friends looked at me and said, “You know, if you did not talk about church all the time, we would have no idea that you were a Christian.” To them, that was a compliment because I was like them and I was not uptight like much of the world perceives Christians to be. To me, that was one of the wake-up calls in my life. 

In 2 Corinthians 5:14-15, we read, “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.”   

When we are going through our day-to-day busy lives, we need to take the time to evaluate why we are doing the things that we are doing. Are we doing it for our families? Are we doing it to fit in with those around us? Are we doing it for ourselves? We need to make sure that our motivation for doing things in our lives can be traced back to the One who died for us. People should be able to look at you, and the things you do, and just know that there is something different about you. When they talk about you, one of the first things they should say about you is, “Oh, James sure does love his God.” There is no better way to be described. 

The question becomes, “How do we get there?” The answer is simple, but the application might not be. We need to live our lives for Him. If we cannot trace the things we are doing back to Him, then we need to evaluate why we are doing it. We cannot live this life for ourselves because it is not ours. He gave His life so that we could have ours; therefore, we should live our lives in a way that is honoring and glorifying to Him. Our whole creation was done so that we can reflect His image and who He is. This is something that we should take more seriously and make sure that when we look in a mirror, this is what we are seeing. 

The book of 2 Corinthians serves as a letter written by Paul for the Church of Corinth. In this letter, Paul elaborates and clarifies different things that he had written in 1 Corinthians, as well as giving the church new instructions to follow. These instructions are still relevant in our churches today. This is one reason why these letters are so crucial for us to be discussing and learning from today. By reading and studying the history and downfalls of the Church of Corinth, we can grow and avoid the same shortcomings within our own church. While this is something to look for in 2 Corinthians, it is something we should be looking for throughout the entirety of the Bible. One of the most prominent themes you will come across throughout 2 Corinthians is the idea of needing to lean on Christ in our times of suffering. We are unable to do what is needed to be done out of our own strength. Only through Him can we find the strength needed.

Another reason for this letter to be written is that there was another group of people on the opposition with Paul’s instructions, which he refers to as false apostles. Paul even goes as far as to refer to these false apostles as servants of Satan (11:14-15). Paul spends a good amount of time calling out those who are doing wrong and their need to change their ways. This should serve as a warning to us as believers that the enemy is trying to put people in our paths who are trying to persuade us that their way is right, but in reality, they could not be further away from God and His plans. We need to use discernment when listening to others and make sure it aligns with the teachings of God. We do this by praying to God and asking for Him to show us His paths. 

Paul closes this book, in chapter 13, warning the Church of Corinth of his third visit. Paul tells them that if their ways are not changed, he will deal with them with the power of God Himself backing him. This idea of Paul’s third return is terrifying if you think about it. He is not coming alone but instead with the wrath of God alongside him. We need to realize that judgment day is coming. We do not know when that day is. The book of 2 Corinthians serves as an excellent layout for how we should be living our Christian lives. The wrath of God will be upon those who do not follow His teachings on that day as well. We should start living our lives for Him now rather than later because later might be too late.