Just Saying

  I like how we think we can get away with insults in we qualify them, with “no offense” or “I’m just saying”. The barb still stings. It's like a doctor telling you ‘This won’t hurt a bit’ then proceeds to jam a needle into your arm.  Sure.

  Over the years I know I received a lot of insults some couched as humor others as evaluation others as an inverted compliment. No matter how it was told it still stung. I don’t like insults. No one would.

  Right?

  That's what makes Paul's statement in 2^nd Corinthians 12:10 so odd. Here he writes “Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ's sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”

  Now, none of these seem like things you would want to learn to put up with, but Paul says he is content to do just that. Why?

 It’s the lesson his ‘thorn in the flesh’ has taught him, sometimes bad things force us to lean on God more than we lean on ourselves.

 When a doctor gives a shot, it still hurts but it probably going to do us more good in the long run. If problems distress and insults keep us humble and in tune with Christ, then they may not be so bad even if they still hurt.

 Just saying.