Nobody wants to be seen as weak. We want to be strong; we want others to think we are strong. We tend to hide, minimize, or excuse our weaknesses.
But what if true strength comes from embracing our weaknesses?
The apostle Paul was a powerful man of God – he was educated, influential, experienced, wise. His ministry was changing the world! And yet, he was only human. He had weaknesses just like you and me. In God’s good purposes, Paul dealt with a thorn in his flesh to make sure he never forgot just how weak he was.
“So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. 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 of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” | 2 Corinthians 12:7-10
We don’t know Paul’s affliction, but whatever it was, God allowed it to remain. Paul pleaded, but in the Lord’s wisdom, that thorn stayed. Paul had to hear from the Lord – just as you and I do – “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
We don’t need human strength – not physical power, intellectual dominance, or outstanding aptitude. What we truly need is God and his power. And so, we can boast about our weaknesses, because in that posture the power of Christ can truly fill us. In admitting our difficulties and deficiencies, fears and failures, sins and struggles, we open ourselves up to rely fully on the Lord. When I am weak, then I am strong!
In the next chapter, Paul is discussing how he’ll need to confront opposition in the church. He warns that he will take a powerful posture to rebuke them.
“[Christ] is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you. For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God.” | 2 Corinthians 13:3-4
Paul recognizes that in his ministry, he is an agent of Christ. Although he didn’t experience sin, Christ experienced human weakness in his earthly life. But he also experienced astounding victory and power in his resurrection. And so, Paul says, we too are weak in Christ – since we have died with him. But in our ministry to others, we live with him by the power of God. While you and I may not be confronting false teachers in the church who oppose the true Gospel, there are times when we need to take postures of strength. In parenting, sharing Christ, church leadership, and many other areas, we need to operate with courage and power. But this begins with weakness. Internal strength and strength to deal with others begins by dying with Christ, so we can rise with Christ.
When I am weak, then I am strong.
“The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” | Isaiah 40:28-31
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