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.
2 Corinthians 11:23 NIV
This eleventh chapter of 2 Corinthians is both interesting and challenging. I find it interesting because of this verse and the few that follow it. From reading elsewhere, it is clear that Paul suffered as he served the Lord. But nowhere else do you get the full scope of that suffering. And this was not even at the end of his life. He still had his final trip to Jerusalem to go. Along with the years spent in prison and another shipwreck. Most of us, myself included, would likely have struggled to endure what he did.
Boasting About Suffering
But the more challenging part of this passage is why he relates all of his sufferings. He is comparing himself to some that he sarcastically calls “super-apostles.” These men had seemingly been boasting about how great they were, trying to make themselves equal to Paul. Paul could have responded by bragging about how many churches he had founded, the people he had led to the Lord, and the letters he had written. But he did not. Instead, he boasted about how much he had suffered for Christ.
And that is the measure of a servant of Christ. Do we serve Him even when the going is hard? Or am I only faithful when the way is easy, and not much is expected of me?
