Don’t Let ‘The Thorns In Your Flesh’ Steal Away Your Blessings, Or From You Blessing Others
Word-Of-The-Day: ‘Offer hospitality to one another without grumbling.’ (1 Peter 4:9)
Usually the ‘thorn in my flesh’, to paraphrase from Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:7, are the joints in my legs (ankles, knees and hips) that have had chronic aches and pains, attributed to a long-distant past of believing I could leap tall buildings and outrun locomotives, only to be thwarted by the rips, tears, and overall wears of jumping off tall obstacles, running into gopher holes, catching cleats into second base while sliding, and later failing to maintain a weight to allow these damaged joints to have a lighter load.
We all have some physical ailments or some mental hangup that from time to time may curtail our activities. Age is also a factor; while there are some who defy it, most seasoned citizens (including me) do not, though often I think that I’m only 21, not 61. (This can be source of trouble.) We should not become entirely sedentary, but we often don’t engage in many physical sports or pursuits as we once did as youngsters or young adults.
This, however, is not an excuse to stop sharing the Word or not to evangelize the Gospel of Jesus. In spite of the aches and pain, I must ensure I share the Word to others. I must overcome the aches and pains that age and wear-&-tear brings to go and serve the Lord. Many of you do the same, and that is a praise to His strength and a testament to His Spirit and Faith.
Peter in Chapter 4 of his 1st Petrine Epistle (a fancy way of saying ‘Peter’s 1st letter’) gives an expose’ of what it takes to live for Jesus. The focus is living to be examples of Jesus and using His love and the Spiritual gifts given to those in Faith for others, not for self-gratification but to provide help for others. Sometimes we may be in pain, or have personal matters to attend to, and to provide for others through interaction may not be exactly on the top of our list of things to do in that given moment. But Peter, through the example of Jesus, saw that no matter how we are inflicted we need to take the time to not only acknowledge others but engage them.
A while back, I had some pretty severe pain in my feet, from ‘plantar fasciitis’ that derives from compensating in my walking stride to limit some of the other joints’ pain, which only serves to shift the pain into the fallen arches of my feet. I wanted to let my feet relax that day a bit more before I started some cleanup work in the garage. I could have simply stayed in the office and kept typing away, when a package delivery bubba and our water delivery bubba showed up, about ten minutes apart, for deliveries. This was not going to give the ‘footsies’ any rest, but both times I got up, walked to the garage, and opened the door to meet them personally.
The reward for getting up and limping out to the garage? Sharing Jesus with them through prayer as in asking them and finding out both had Spiritual needs. It would have been less painful to sit still, allow them to drop off their deliveries and pick them up later, but it would have been less rewarding and with no blessing of sharing the love of Jesus with them. I did not mention to either bubba of my achy feet or joints as what good would that do? (They’re delivery guys, not podiatrists.)
But being a Faithful disciple of Christ (like you are), I am an authorized dealer of providing Jesus’ love to them. I never want to gain personal pity over God’s Word, nor do I want to come across as ‘oh, woe is me – here I am suffering to give you prayer’ as that only serves me and not the Lord. Even during His crucifixion, Jesus never complained over his pain, but continued to minister to others including the thief next to Him, to provide the thief His Salvation.
When asked, we should be truthful, especially when others want to pray for us. We need to lift each other up in prayer, and do so both in giving and receiving prayer. But don’t let Satan use a ‘bad moment’ to stop you from doing Great Commission things. Certainly, if you are bedridden, actively ill, or recovering from a serious injury or illness, you don’t need to go to others (if you’re contagious the blessing is to keep that to yourself – it’s the one thing that need not be shared), but if others come to you – share the Word. If you can go, go share the Word. Physical pain or personal setbacks are temporary, but Spiritual giving lasts forever.
