Strength In Weakness

2 Corinthians 12:5-10

My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness. (2 Corinthians 12:9)

THE WORLD LONGS FOR a revelation of the children of God (Romans 8:19), and sometimes we think the best way to be that revelation is with our tidy lives, impressive works, or relentlessly joyful attitudes. Exemplary lifestyles, the power of the Spirit, and joy are certainly important; our lives should be marked with them consistently. But the greater revelation comes not through any immunity to life’s frailties and fallenness but through the power of God in the midst of them. Like a fragile baby born in Bethlehem, we are earthen vessels containing the divine Spirit (2 Corinthians 4:7), intersections between visible and invisible realms, incarnations of the image of God. Weakness becomes strength, flaws are covered with mercy, pride bows down to humility, the decay of death gives way to life, and temporal bodies are finally clothed in the eternal. Our fragility makes us a wonderful showcase for God.

Paul stressed that point when his prayers for deliverance from a problem—we don’t know whether it was physical, relational, or something else—were answered by a profound truth that God’s power works best in our weakness. Paul began boasting in his frailties, rather than trying to reestablish his former strength, because he realized that his frailties were where God revealed himself. This powerful, divine light inside of us may be obscured at times, but much of the Christian life involves uncovering it. The Spirit in you may remain hidden for a while, but he is there eventually to be revealed. That’s your role in this world.

Lean back into God with all your weaknesses, faults, frailties, fallenness, and brokenness. You don’t need to go to great lengths to cover them up; they are platforms for the glory of God, a stage for the revelation of his nature. No one is moved when God makes a strong person strong. But when he makes a weak person strong . . . that’s another story. In fact, it’s your story, worth telling again and again. Don’t be afraid to live it for others to see. His grace is all you—and they—will need.

{Holy Spirit, let this earthen vessel burst from the power of the light within. Fill my brokenness with your restoration, my wounds with your healing, and my weakness with your power. Let me be a revelation of glory. Amen.