In 2nd Corinthians 12:1-6 the remarkable thing about Paul’s boasts (which he willingly admits is foolishness) is that they are not about the things most people would brag about. Paul doesn’t mention:
•Impressive degrees from prestigious schools.
•The long list of books and papers he has written.
•The number of people who have become followers of Jesus.
•The famous people he was associated with.
•The size of the churches he has pastored.
The false teachers in Corinth contended that the reason Paul didn’t speak of these things was because he didn’t have anything to brag about. But that’s simply not the case! Instead, Paul boasts about the things that caused him to become humble and broken: beatings, fastings, imprisonments, stoning, shipwrecks, and dangers from every side. He then includes the one event that caused him to see ministry from a completely different view: when all that he had dreamed about—all of his accomplishments, education, and experiences that he had thought made him successful—was flushed down the toilet, kicked to the curb.
I believe many Americans are suffering from an identity crisis that seems to be getting worse. I further believe that we Christians are not immune from this disease; in fact, we may be more susceptible to it. We long to find our identity in something other than Jesus: the church we attend, the denomination, the ministry we are involved in, etc. It is time that we flush all that down the toilet like Paul did 20 years earlier in Damascus.
You would think that this would have settled the issue with these false teachers, but Paul, in chapter 12, describes a personal experience that finally sounds like something others would see worth boasting about: the time he was caught up into Paradise and heard things that he declares are not lawful for a man on earth to speak about. Why does he mention this? The answer will be revealed in verses 7-10, as Paul speaks about a thorn in the flesh to buffet him from pride.