2 Corinthians 12:7-10 (NIV) 7 To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 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 about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
We all have weaknesses.
Psalm 103:14 puts it this way: God knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust. The Message translation says it like this: He knows us inside and out, keeps in mind that we’re made of mud.
Dust, mud. These were the raw materials used to create Adam in the Garden. I think we could all agree that those are pretty weak and fragile materials. In the New Testament, Paul talks about our physical bodies being like clay pots. Easily chipped and broken. We’re all human. I believe those who live the best possible lives are those who embrace God’s Divinity while acknowledging their complete humanity.
You see, weaknesses(and pains) remind us we aren’t the Source of strength. We cannot fuel our own success or perfection. It comes in and through a work of God in our lives, and those who are fueled by Divine power, those who will succeed, those who will be transformed and perfected in the struggle are those who are willing to admit they can’t help themselves. You see there is a direction correlation between
Humility and help. Humility invites God’s help.
If Paul was going to accomplish all he accomplished for God, he was going to have to have Divine strength. Many times we try to cover up our weaknesses, our insecurities, our flaws, and our sin. Not Paul. He said in verse 9 that he would boast about his weaknesses. He wasn’t going to try to pretend that all was always good with him, that he had no daily difficulties to overcome. No, he said he would talk about his weaknesses. It’s right there in verse 9. What was his motivation? Look at the verse in its entirety: Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.
Paul knew that admitting his weaknesses would invite God’s strength to take over for him. Do you see that he said he welcomed Christ’s power to “rest” on him. That word, “rest” means “to spread a tent over.” Paul saw his body as a frail tent (II Cor. 5:1ff) but the glory of God had come into that tent and had transformed it into a holy tabernacle. Listen wherever the presence of God dwells, there is power. If there is one thing we could all use more of it is the power of God in our lives.
Listen to me, you can do all of the right things for your physical body. You can eat right, exercise, get enough sleep, drink lots of water, have regular check ups, take supplements, and stay up to date on the latest health news and still have a major illness change your quality of life. What I am trying to say is that our best efforts in life, whether we are bent on sinning or not, our best efforts will still be weak unless Christ’s power is resting on us.
I Peter 5:5 tells us that God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble, and listen to me, grace is power. God said to Paul in verse 9 of our text that God’s grace was sufficient for Paul to deal with his physical challenge and that God’s power is made perfect in weakness. In other words, to the degree that we are willing to admit we are weak and in need of help, to that degree, the power of God comes in to hold us up, sustain us and transform us.
I don’t know what it is you need help with today, whether anger and unforgiveness, addiction or some secret life compromise-God says He is willing to infuse your life with His power and strength if you will call on Him for help. But admitting we need help is often a deal breaker for people. They don’t want anyone else to know their truth, not even God (as if they could hide it from Him). They don’t want to boast about their weaknesses. They don’t want to expose their need. The trouble is, the grace, the power to change won’t come until we do.
And so some people choose to live by grit rather than grace.
Grit and grace
What I mean by that is that some people just determine to try harder to overcome their issues or try harder to cover them up. Ain’t nobody going to see them sweat. They will just get on the performance treadmill and keep working until they are perfect, until they escape the constraints and imperfections of their human condition which will never happen.
What happens instead is that those who choose grit just set themselves up to try and fail, try and fail, try and fail and then fall into self-loathing, guilt, and shame. It is an endless cycle. They do well for awhile and then they blow it. Eventually, they just give up and give in to whatever it is you were trying to conquer.
Believers, the call today is to get out of the grit and grind of self and get in the grip of grace by just admitting you are flawed and weak and need help for the long haul.
Listen, those who choose grace instead of grit, find power to get back up when they fail rather than simply walking away from the call to do better, to live holy. Those who choose grace find a loving God who will encourage them to keep going and eventually, as people are in the grip of grace, in the hands of a loving Father who won’t let them go, who won’t let them quit, they are transformed into people who stand in the power of Christ rather than people who are always caving to the power of temptation. Grit people are self-will people. Grace people are people who have surrendered their will to God’s. Grace people have humbled themselves in order to give God permission and space to work in their lives rather than trying to live victoriously on their own. You can only live by grit for a season, but you can live by grace forever.
Rejoicing instead of running
If Paul was dealing with physical pain every day, what did he really have to rejoice about? Look again at 2 Corinthians 12:9b-10 Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
He was all the more glad about his weaknesses? He rejoiced in his human limitations? He delighted in his weaknesses? Was Paul mentally unstable? That ain’t right, is it? What he was saying was he was thankful for anything that gave him the opportunity to have Christ’s power rest on him. He was rejoicing that he was experiencing the power of Christ that came to him because of his weaknesses. He was happy and glad that there was a Source to turn to when he had a need. Where he was limited in his ability to endure his struggle, God had unlimited power and grace to enable him to keep going. And that sufficient grace was a thrill, a buzz, a spiritual high, an experience with contentment like none other. Having the thorn while having the grace of God was a higher high than simply having the thorn removed because he got to see just how powerful God’s grace really is. And just as God’s grace was sufficient for Paul, it is sufficient for you in your human struggle.
Right now, in this moment I want you to fill in the blank in your mind. Today, I am struggling with ____________. Is there a willingness to admit your struggle and to invite the grace of God into your situation rather than running to things that will never complete and transform you? God wants to make His power perfect in your weakness. There is power to change that some of us have been leaving on the table because of an inability to admit our need. Some of our marriages need help In a minute, you need to step out and come to pray for God’s grace over your relationship and quit pretending that everything is OK. Some of our hearts need help because we are dealing with great stress, heartache and disappointment and we are tempted to turn to the wrong things for comfort. You need to step out and come and pray for God’s grace to be your comfort and quit pretending that we’ve got this. Some of you are in the middle of waiting on physical test results, and the waiting has you torn up, anxious and afraid. You need to come and pray for God’s grace to sustain you during this difficult time. You don’t kneed to be strong! You need to be weak, so that you can experience the strength of God!
I want Christ’s power to rest on my weakness. That is what I am seeking every day. It is what I have come to rely on. It is what gives me hope for each day. It is what fuels me on even when I am being buffeted by Satan as I was a couple of days this past week. The greatest prayer you can pray is this: Help me, Lord!
Allow your weaknesses to prompt you to turn to, to rely on and to be filled by Christ, the Source, who can keep you from falling, who will pick you up when you do fall and who will provide everything you need to keep growing in His grace as His life is perfected in yours.
