CHRIST’S POWER IN OUR WEAKNESSS

The Apostle Paul wrote: “Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time He said, ‘My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.’ So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”  (2 Corinthians 12:8-10 NLT)

That last sentence is the payoff -- the wisdom God taught Paul. God is always strong, but in our weakness that strength goes viral. The world sees that it is not about anything but Christ. At the end of me, I find strength in God that I never would have experienced otherwise…

As I’ve thought and studied over the years, I’ve changed my mind in some ways. Once I would have made the case that God works despite our weaknesses. Or God works around our weaknesses. But that’s not a strong enough statement. It’s not the real point. God doesn’t demonstrate His strength even though we’re weak -- He demonstrates it precisely through the weakness.

-- Kyle Idleman in “The End of Me”


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