Monday, August 13, 2007

Celebrating weakness


Recently, Samantha in Australia posted a blog and said this, "For me, with the season I'm walking in, the Scripture that is ringing true to me and encouraging me is 2 Corinthians 12:9. Read it. It is good."

Today my wife Joye said, "Listen to this," and she read 2 Cor. 12:9-10 to me. SO I think....is the Lord trying to get my attention? And the obvious answer is always "YES."

So here are the verses that I'm being pointed toward....then let's talk about them:

2Co 12:9 and then he told me, My grace is enough; it's all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness. Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ's strength moving in on my weakness.
2Co 12:10 Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size--abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.


It seems that there is a wonderful reality in the Christian life- I am weak, but HE is strong. (Someone should write a song about that!) What's clearer to me as I grow in my relationship with the Lord is that my weakness and my awareness of it is vital....it makes me trust him to be what I am not. The world around me sees weakness as a bad thing, because without strength there is no backup plan for the world. But for the Christian weakness is a great thing, because behind us is Christ....willing to be and do all that we cannot. When I am weak then he is strong...what a concept! It's almost against our very natures to celebrate weakness, but that's the invitation from God. Celebrate your weakness and bring it to Christ so he can be strong in us.

In 1 Cor. 1 Paul writes about this in a different way, but it's the same theme....it's just that here he tells us why weakness is such a great thing:

1Co 1:26 Take a good look, friends, at who you were when you got called into this life. I don't see many of "the brightest and the best" among you, not many influential, not many from high-society families.
1Co 1:27 Isn't it obvious that God deliberately chose men and women that the culture overlooks and exploits and abuses,
1Co 1:28 chose these "nobodies" to expose the hollow pretensions of the "somebodies"?
1Co 1:29 That makes it quite clear that none of you can get by with blowing your own horn before God.
1Co 1:30 Everything that we have--right thinking and right living, a clean slate and a fresh start--comes from God by way of Jesus Christ.
1Co 1:31 That's why we have the saying, "If you're going to blow a horn, blow a trumpet for God."


Weakness....a thing to celebrate? Yes! That's when we have to trust the Lord to be all that we can't....all that we aren't....so that all the glory will go to him. So, if the goal is that Christ be glorified then I'm thrilled to have plenty of weaknesses so he can show himself strong in and through me.

I'm all yours, Lord. Make yourself look good through me.....

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

'I'm all yours, Lord. Make yourself look good through me.' I like this! Thank you for your post today! Also, thanks for visiting with me on Sunday.

Anonymous said...

Romans 12:2
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

This passage seems all around me.

Anonymous said...

Ephesians 4:22-25

22 that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit,

23 and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind,

24 and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of the truth.

25 Therefore, laying aside falsehood, SPEAK TRUTH EACH ONE of you WITH HIS NEIGHBOR, for we are members of one another.

Living as Free Men and Women.

Speaking lightly,
not my voice
but HIS
sounds like thunder
the truth measures all things
according to HIM