Ecclesiastes 12:10

    There has always been something at the scene of the cross that doesn’t make a lot of sense to me.   In reality, none of it makes sense. How could they do that? How could He go through that?  Why did this have to go that way? It all boggles the mind. But the way I am referring to is the motivations of some of the actions at the cross.   We are told that those in attendance at the crucifixion were insulting Jesus. The chief priest and scribe make sense. Not in it was right, but they had been out to get Jesus for some time; you can understand their animosity. The crowd, in the same way, has a logic to it. They had been whipped up into a stir against Jesus by the leaders. Those insults go hand in hand with a mob mentality. Those who were crucified with Him were also insulting Him. Mark 15:32    It’s those that were crucified with him I just don’t get. If anyone understood his agony, it would be those experiencing it beside him. They ha...

  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...