Hosanna Restoration Church

Today is the beginning of the tradition of Advent. Love, Joy, Hope, and Peace are focal points. It is the annual anticipation of the birth of Christ. We don’t ignore it, but we don’t really emphasize it at Hosanna. Still, for whatever reason people look to Jesus, is great.

The key when it comes to Christ is not to get hung up on things that detour us from where we are heading. Advent would never detour us, unless of course we only looked forward to Advent Season! There are a lot of things in between Advents! For all things, the grace of God is sufficient!

I want to talk about Paul and his reference to a thorn in the flesh found in 2 Corinthians 12. In verse 7, Paul talked about the many revelations that he had received from Christ and then he mentions a thorn in the flesh, a messenger from Satan!

For some reason, this has become a detour and a hangup in much of Christianity. He clearly states that it is a messenger from Satan! He has seen many healed and delivered. No doubt he was asked why he does not heal himself. Remember, he made it clear this was from the devil. Maybe he did that so no one would make the mistake of blaming God for it.

He also said that he prayed three times and every time, God told him, “My grace is sufficient for you!” I like that. Don’t you? The thought I have been pondering recently is why is the thorn in the flesh is the thing that people take a detour on.

There are books written on thorns in the flesh. There are opinions debated over what exactly it was. And to top it off, it seems that some are convinced that God gave it to him. Since when is Satan God’s messenger. Paul does not say that Gabriel brought it to him! That would be more convincing that God was the source.

As a result of the idea that God sent the thorn, many people think that trouble comes from God. We all have troubles, but I think the thorn is attributing it to God.

I guess I prefer to get hung up on the sufficient grace of God. God did not tell Paul, “Look I sent this so you can practice dealing with it. Grace will make it all ok! No, God simply said that His grace is more than enough to see you through. Let’s face it, detours can cause a lot of lost time. If we spend enough time detouring it can turn into a hangup that just keeps on giving.

Jesus told the disciples to watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees. They were so hung up on the way they thought Jesus should show up that they refused to believe Him. They acknowledged that He must be from God, but they just could not or would not accept that He was the Messiah that they were looking for. They would ask Him if He was. He would tell them that He was, and they would be more determined to kill Him for it.

I imagine that Paul drew on the grace of God. The thorn was never mentioned again, but God’s grace certainly was. Thanks for letting me share.