Verse of the Week
Prayer
Dear God, help me to declare Christ in my life when it is convenient to act like you, and especially in instances when it is not. I am weak Lord, so I call on your name. Please empower me by your Holy Spirit. Let your Words from scripture ring hard in my ears, and let my feet move in obedience to your wisdom. You are everything, and I have no life outside of you. Thank you for dying on the cross for me. In you, I can live guilt-free, trusting you even when I fall short. Thank you, because you know I will fall short, and you have made provisions for me. I bless you and I thank you for the gift that is the very breath in my lungs. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Past Verse
2nd Corinthians 12:9. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
My Thoughts
My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Why weakness, though? Why isn’t the power of God made perfect in my strength? Let’s push back a little bit. We need context.
2nd Corinthians 12:1-10: I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. 2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows. 3 And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— 4 was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell. 5 I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses. 6 Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say, 7 or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Paul begins this chapter by sharing the story of a man who had a profound spiritual experience, aka himself, something worthy of boasting, but yet he said he would rather talk about the thorn given to him to keep him humble. God allows this thorn, and theologians have theories, but no one knows what it is. Paul only discloses its purpose. Paul lets us know that God’s strength works mightily in “weak” situations.
I do not like feeling weak; I personally do not like feeling like I have been made to look like a fool in the sight of another human beans (I mean, being). Why weakness? Why not my strength? Well, I think it’s because we humans like control; we want to be in charge. Tribes fight for it, and races do too. Control and power are fundamental parts of self-sufficiency. I do not have to rely on you to get what I need. But in Christianity, we are supposed to lean on Christ. We give up control, we give up power.
Then the question becomes, why does He want me to lean on him so much? We can do a lot as humans without God; we actually can. Many non-Christians have achieved notable feats in human history. But there is one thing we cannot do without him, and that is to be righteous, to be good. Humans crave control, a sense of self-sufficiency, and we seek validation of our goodness/ use of power. The truth is, we all stand unvalidated before God, “none are righteous, no not one”. So, back to the idea of why weakness? Weakness is the state of lacking strength; when we are weak, it serves as a reminder of our inadequacies/incapabilities, highlighting what we do not have control over, a side of ourselves we have yet to conquer. A situation/circumstance that leaves us feeling lost, confused, and or in pain. For Christians, these inadequacies/life realities aren’t supposed to make us want to work harder, naturally speaking. We are supposed to lean ever more on Jesus, the one with the power to cover our shortcomings and failures, and use these very painful realities as an opportunity to make us more like Him. In the process of sanctification, I have a “thorn”; all believers do. We are so far from being like Christ that we will forever need to lean on Him. After all, He said He did not come for the healthy. He came for the sick.
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