2 Corinthians 12:9 English Standard Version (ESV)

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 of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

We live in a culture today where those that are the strongest survive and thrive. Strength and power is often celebrated, admired and even rewarded.  We honor the athlete that can defy all human odds and demonstrate a great amount of vigor and strength to come out victorious.  People don’t flock to the beaches to see a weak man competition, no they marvel at the muscle men and the incredible feats they can do with their human bodies.  We take great pride in our accomplishments, and are quick to let others know about them. Just look at our Facebook posts.  We all from time to time, like to share with our friends about our strong points and tell others what we’re succeeding at.  No one boasts about those things they struggle in.  No one is quick to share their failures and shortcomings.  Who goes into a job interview and quickly highlights their failures?   No one does that.  If they did, they could forget about landing the job, they’d get fired before they were even hired.  Bottom line, we boast about our strengths and pity those that are weaklings.  Yet when it comes to God’s way of thinking, and for living out the Christian life, God encourages us to do the opposite.  He tells us in 2 Corinthians 12:9, to boast in our weaknesses.  Quite a contrast from the world’s point of view.  But we’re not called to live like the world. No, God always has a way of flipping the script.  We see this demonstrated in the very life of the Apostle Paul.  He had no major accomplishments or amazing heroics to brag about. In fact, after His conversion to follow Jesus, he went through much hardships for Christ. He dealt with a “thorn” in his flesh that God wouldn’t remove, he suffered with loneliness and rejection, persecution and even prison time, all for the sake of sharing the gospel.   Most of the time, he felt weak rather than strong but rather than trying to muster up his own strength, what he learned was that by boasting in his weaknesses and in his own incapabilities, he was in essence trusting in God’s grace to see him through.   When he realized his own limitations and put his faith in Christ, Christ’s power was able to rest on him.  In other words, Paul wasn’t boasting in his sufferings, he was really bragging in the fact that his sufferings reminded him of his constant need and dependence on Christ for everything.  He was taking pride in the fact that he could do nothing without Christ but with Christ he could do all things, Philippians 4:13.  He encourages us in 2 Corinthians 12:9, that God’s grace is enough to sustain us and empower us to live for God in this temporal and sometimes harsh life filled with thorns rather than roses.  You and I are never promised a thornless life but God does promise us that He is sufficient and He will see us through anything we may be facing.  No matter the weakness, whether it’s a trying circumstance or a sin that so easily entangles, boast in your shortcomings and humbly trust the grace of God to give you the strength to overcome. Remember, receiving God’s power is very much the same way we receive our eternal salvation.  We don’t earn it, we humbly admit we are incapable of saving ourselves and we receive the gift of grace by faith.  It’s the same with receiving Christ’s temporal salvation power for our lives as well.  When we try to earn it we fail but when we accept our limitations and simply trust Him, then His saving power rests upon us. So as believers, we must stop trying to earn God’s temporal saving power and just receive His promise simply by faith alone.  Remember His grace is enough.  When we stop trying in our own strength, we are in essence humbling ourselves and boasting in our weaknesses.  We are declaring that without Him we are nothing.  When we get out of the way and trust Christ alone, then we will receive His grace and find ourselves experiencing His saving power to see us through our time of need.  And like Paul, no matter what comes our way, whether the thorn is removed or not, we’ll be able to boldly proclaim, “WHEN I AM WEAK, THEN I AM STRONG”!

2 Corinthians 12:10

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.