But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." 2 Cor 12:9
People often ask me how I do it with four small boys. Well, Sunday I forgot to put on deodorant and today I realized at noon that I never brushed my teeth in the morning. When Paul wrote his second letter to the church at Corinth he had a lot of defending himself to do. People did not trust him and his persecution was great. But God still called Paul to go into the world and continued to do amazing things through him. In Chapter 12 Paul tells the church,
"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. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it from me. 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. 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."
Now there are some undeniable differences between Paul and I. One, my discipleship is nowhere near what his was and as for persecution, well, our Chihuahua poops on the floor a lot. Two, I do not delight in weakness, insults, hardships, persecution, or difficulties. Who does? But there is a great peace that comes along with remembering where our hope comes from. One thing about weakness and hardship is that it reminds us how very human we are, and how very sovereign God is.
I used to pray for perfection frequently, as a wife, as a mother, as a friend, as an employee. I always came up short. It's not that I don't think God wants me to be good at things (or remember my deodorant). He just didn't design us to have all of the answers. Instead I pray for the grace to do all of things through Him. We need the perfection of His power above our own. He is God after all.
XOXO...Kelly
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