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Caught up to Paradise - 2 Corinthians 12

Residing in Michigan for over half my life, I had heard about Paradise. Because Paradise is a small town in the Upper Peninsula, you may have never visited there in your life, but you knew it existed. It was WAY up there next to Tahquamenon Falls and nothing else.

Where's Tahquamenon Falls? Next to Paradise and nothing else. It's a long way from home. 

Why all of the talk about Paradise? Because Paul talks about it in 2 Corinthians 12. There was this guy who had been caught up to Paradise. Not in Michigan's Upper Peninsula, but into the REAL Paradise. While there, he'd heard things that he was unable to repeat.

What on earth was this? Who was this guy?

Here's what was going on. Paul defended his position of Apostleship in chapter eleven and gave the Corinthians an idea of what Apostleship looked like in chapter twelve. It came with great wonders, like seeing or instead hearing unimaginable things. But, too, that position came with a terrible cost.

God gave Paul a "thorn" to keep him in line. He could not boast about his position because that nagging thorn wouldn't let him.

So, what did he do? He considered his thorn a mark of ownership. It was an opportunity to remember that God was his strength and that God was in control. God told Paul exactly why, after three tries, he wasn't going to remove his problem. He said, "My grace is enough for you because I perfect strength through weakness."

What? How's that? Paul went into heaven and heard things he couldn't have repeated if he wanted to. And then, so that he didn't get a big head, God gave him an infirmity he couldn't resolve. All to prove a point, God perfects his strength through weakness.

If I were Paul, I probably would have said, I don't want to be that strong. Just let me be average. But that wasn't Paul's style. He gloried in his thorn because he understood that weakness was God chiseling him to perfection.

Consider this, to be a strong Christian; you need to be weak in Christ. To be first, you need to be last. To lead, you need to serve. All of this doesn't look much like Paradise. It is, however, the path that leads in that direction. So, keep going! Paradise is a long way from where you are now. But one day soon you'll get there. 
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