Verse: 2 Corinthians 11:21-24
Whatever anyone else dares to boast about—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast about. 22 Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham’s descendants? So am I. 23 Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. 24 Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one...
Devotion
If you keep reading that passage, Paul spends the next eight verses describing the hardships he's been through for the Gospel. Here is what I find so interesting about that. He's in the middle of basically defending himself as a "real apostle." There are people in Corinth who are claiming he is not a real apostle. So he says, even though he feels foolish doing it, they've forced him to "brag" to back up why they should listen to him. And then he lists hardships! I've always found that fascinating!
In other words, to prove the authenticity of his apostleship and why they should listen to them, his evidence is: I've been beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, almost died multiple times, hunted, in danger, been poor, been hungry, been weak, and been arrested. That's quite a resumé!
Can you imagine going for a job interview and listing all the hardest times in your life as evidence for why you should get the job? Why did he do this? In part, I think, to show that he wasn't in it for the glory (like the other false apostles). He wasn't in it for the glory, or the money, or to be treated to the best tables at restaurants, or wear really expensive clothes. He was in it for the gospel, and he was grateful that he was counted worthy to suffer along with Jesus.
I'm not saying we should seek out pain and hardship. But it is interesting how the Kingdom of God doesn't teach us to avoid pain at all costs. Paul says in the next chapter that he will "boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me."
One point we can take from this personally is this: We all have hardship in our story, how does God want to use it? How does God want to redeem the hardest, most difficult, parts of our story? And are we willing to let him? Can we, like Paul, boast in our hardships because we know in them we will find God's strength?