Some things in the bible reverberate over and over and for some reason many of us just don’t get it. We think we are incorporating spiritual principles in our daily lives but in actuality, we are far from it. 2 Corinthians 12:7-9 says, “To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given to me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it from me. 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.” Talk about powerful stuff! Paul lets us know in this scripture that there is indeed a reason to accept our shortcomings, warts and all, with the basic understanding that it is at our weakest moments God will invariably show up and then proceed to show out.
Can you imagine experiencing the ‘perfect power’ (His Words not mine) of the Lord? Apparently, it’s as easy as looking in the mirror and making an honest assessment of who you really are compared to who you’d like the world to see. The righteous perspective is, you are who you are only in relationship to God. That means warts and all. You are still a man or woman of God. Accept it and move on. Get out of your own way. The realization that you aren’t perfect save for the grace of God, should empower you to reject the notion that you are the sum total of your faults, addictions, sinfulness and sins. That would leave you with a belief, rightfully so, that you aren’t worthy to be used as an instrument of the Lord’s and you would be wrong. This text says it is our job to revel in the fact that through spiritual recognition God can take over and do His miraculous thing. Look, we all need help. That help comes from one source. When you get a hand from God to overcome your pride, ego, your human vanity and your physical weaknesses, you get so much more. According to this, you also get Christ’s power to work with. No wonder Paul continues by saying “That is why, for Christ’s sake I delight in weakness, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
By itself you might wonder how he comes up with that conclusion. But when taken in the context of the entire passage, our testimony is the same. Out of your most impossible circumstances, when you’ve given your life to Him who loves you more than you love yourself, God’s perfect power rescues you. It did on more than one occasion. How many testimonies does it take to give God all the praise he deserves for accomplishing through all of our frailties that which we could never do by ourselves? All I’m saying is, stop fighting yourself. Stop denying your insecurities and your passions. Accept them and give them over to the Lord. Paul obviously did. Once you do, then step back and watch God do His thing with your life. Remember, when God moves in, that’s when the magic happens; but only when you let go of the good and the bad. It’s the perfect time to let God.
May God Bless and Keep you Always,
James, jaws@dallasweekly.com