The Lodestar

A severe cough that lasts for a few days and goes away on its own without treatment causes immense distress and pain, and brings our morale to abysmal levels. We find it challenging to live for a few days with even a common flu, sore throat, and cough, though we have the freedom to take sick leave and stay in our beds until we are well again.

Apostle Paul was stoned in the city of Lystra; his attackers disposed of his body outside the walls of the city. But he stood up on his feet among his friends who gathered around the body, maybe to give it a decent burial and went back to the city. The next morning, he set out on an arduous journey of 48 miles to Derbe along the rough roads (Acts 14:19—20).

None of us could do that, to hit the dusty roads, body still bleeding, a few hours after recovering from a deep coma, but Apostle Paul could. This is not the only instance that proved his resilience and physical and spiritual stamina. Read 2 Corinthians 11:23—29, where he catalogues some of the challenges he had to face for the sake of the gospel.

He explains the secret of this unusual strength in this verse. The strength does not come from the build of his body, nor from his stamina. His body is just a jar of clay, vulnerable to cracks and breaks. Though made of clay, it carries a treasure, “the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:6). So, God has empowered the fragile body to carry this treasure, the gospel message.

He did not wait for his body to recover, but he set out to preach miles away, trusting God, to whom the power belongs, to fill the breaks in the jar on the way! Because his feet are “fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace” (Ephesians 6:15, NIV).

When we do the work of the Lord, trusting in our strength, we become weaker and weaker, but when we realise that we do everything by the resurrection power of Jesus, nothing can stand in the way. The key is to trust God to fill our weaknesses and go forward in obedience, knowing he empowers us to withstand trials and continue his work with resilience and hope.

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