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.
(2 Corinthians 12:9)
I don’t particularly enjoy being thought of as weak.
We all seem to possess this inherent natural desire to not be thought of as weak, especially in the things we value. I personally wouldn’t be bothered if you think I am weak in my calligraphy skills because calligraphy isn’t a field I care all that much about, even though there are many talented people who can do some pretty amazing things with a pen. However, if you think my driving skills are weak, then that is something that might get under my skin a little bit (and I don’t think I’m alone in that!).
We don’t like being thought of as weak when it comes to things we care about.
As the church, our lives have been set apart for one purpose: that we would bring glory to God through Jesus Christ. That is what we care about by the work of the Holy Spirit that dwells within those who by faith trust in Jesus for eternal life. The more the Spirit grows us in the desire to bring glory to God, the more we are going to care about it. The more we care about bringing glory to God, the more we desire to be strong in bringing Him glory. But here is the critical point that God wants us to consider as we serve to bring Him glory:
by who’s strength? Ours, or His?
The temptation that we face bringing glory to God as exiles in the world is that we bring glory to God by the standards of how the world defines glory rather than by the standards of how God defines glory. Are we trying to bring glory to God by making Him appeal to the appetites of the world? Do we bring a tamed, pet Jesus that just wants everyone to be comfortable?
We are hardly the first Christians in the world to experience this problem. When Paul wrote this verse in 2 Corinthians 12:9 it was in response to believers in Corinth who were falling into the trap of following in the world’s definition of glory, a definition which Paul himself did not fit into. Paul wasn’t well spoken enough; in fact, he was timid in person. He didn’t have the right credentials and on top of that, he did hard time in prison for his preaching! How could God display his glory through such a person?
Grace.
As you step to serve in bringing glory to God, He is going to put you in situations that highlight your weakness because in that place of weakness is where His overwhelming abundance of grace and His incredibly vast glory are going to be seen more clearly in such a way that requires faith. By His grace, He is going to use your weakness (not sin, but weakness) to perfectly demonstrate His power. What an incredibly heavy burden falls off our shoulders when we accept and celebrate our weakness that displays his glory!
His servant in weakness,
Pastor Scott