Not About Strength

“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 12:10

            Doesn’t boasting in your weaknesses sound a little bit counterproductive? It really seems to go against a lot of what we tend to feel and think. I mean, when was the last time you bragged about being bad at something or about making a mistake?

            Living a Christian life isn’t really about being strong, though. It’s not about having an easy life or trying to gain influence, either. It’s about weakness, submission, and servanthood. Jesus wasn’t just being mysterious when he said, “The first shall be last and the last shall be first.” He really meant it. It is a good think in the eyes of God to have weakness.

            Here’s the cool thing, though, before you stop reading and walk away all depressed or something: 2 Corinthians 12:9 says that God’s power is made perfect in our weakness. When we are weak, that is when our Christian witness is truly the strongest, because we are allowing God to show himself through the areas of our lives where we fall short. Are you a terrible speaker? Then how great would God be glorified through you if you gave the best speech the world has ever heard? That’s an example of how God works through our weakness. Possibly the best example is the fact that God still uses us even though we are sinful. It would seem like our sin would keep us from showing God’s glory since it is so against his character, but sin is just a weakness that God can work through to show that he is still powerful, loving, and just!

            When we accept the fact that we are weak, we can be truly strong for God because that’s when he can work through us best.