Strength in weakness

Yesterday I was doing some Bible reading and a particular passage really stuck out to me, so I thought I would share it with y’all.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10: “9 But [God] 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. 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.”

This just flies in the face of what our society tells us strength is. It tells us that strength comes from our own willpower, or from hard work, or from whatever choices we make about who we want to be. But these are false ideas. We all have our own ideas about what greatness looks like, and even though it sounds harsh, we simply can’t live up to perfection. Each and every one of us is only human and has made countless mistakes, and will make just as many more.

So what happens when I’m not good enough, or when I fall behind or when I am overwhelmed in the face of failure?

That is where the grace of God shines. It’s OK that we aren’t good enough, because HE IS! And we can be content through anything, because in our weakness it becomes abundantly clear that God is pulling us through. He gives us strength and courage and grace and everything we need to keep on keeping on.

The feeling (and reality) that I’m not good enough has been a little bit of a struggle as I try to prepare for the World Race. I’ve heard so many amazing stories of things that have happened on the Race — people being healed by the Lord, and people coming to faith in Christ, and women in red light districts learning that they are worth more than they ever thought possible. And I worry that I’m not good enough be a part of things like that.

I lack the confidence to share the gospel with someone I only met five minutes ago. I’m not a good enough speaker to tell a classroom full of students how much Jesus loves them. I don’t feel like I know the Bible well enough to teach it to other people.

But the wonderful thing about God is that I know He isn’t asking me to be good enough. He is only asking me to rely fully on Him. To do these things that I know I’m not great at, and trust that He will show up in these situations. To take a leap of faith, and trust Him to catch me.

Because even though I am weak, He is strong. And my weaknesses are nothing more than opportunities for God to show His strength through me.

On the World Race, I know I’m going to continually be pushed out of my comfort zone and will have to do things I’m not comfortable with. But I’m going to do it anyway because I know that God will show Himself in amazing ways, and I certainly hope that He will change my life, and the lives of those I will have the opportunity to serve over these eleven months.

I hope that you are as encouraged by the above passage as I was!

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