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 Christs power may rest on me. 2 Corinthians 12:9 Paul was shown something so unique and wonderful by the Lord when he He was given the privilege to pay a visit to Heaven. When Elijah was caught up into Heaven, he stayed there. So did Enoch. Paul was the only to be brought back to earth and live to tell about it. Or not. The Lord made sure of that by letting Paul have a thorn in the flesh to keep him from doing so. He could not boast about his experience and that weakness kept him humble. But the Lord said that He had given Paul His grace which was sufficient for him. If grace is getting something that we dont deserve, then this means that Paul received something from the Lord that He didnt deserve, probably to make sure that the weakness didnt overcome him. It could also mean that the Lord had given this to him so that even though he had a weakness that others could notice, Gods grace and power would be more evident through him. Some of the heroes of our faith had weaknesses that we know of but hardly talk about. Abraham didnt have a son but he would be the father of many nations. Gideons clan was the least important in the tribe of Manasseh and he was the youngest in his family. He might be the most fearful one, too, but he was called to be a leader of a small army. David was also the youngest and least trained in the military but he was skilled at hand-to-hand combat and with the sling because of Gods training, making him a good soldier and future king for Israel. Solomon had the reputation of being born from a mom whom David had stolen to be his wife. He was also the youngest but he was given wisdom to govern Israel. Peter, Andrew, James, and John were mere fishermen called to preach the gospel. The rest of the apostles werent as qualified to be preachers or leaders of anything, either but were called to do just that because of their time with Jesus. All these men, along with many others, had weaknesses that could have kept them from glorifying God. But as it turned out, their weaknesses highlighted the grace that God had given them. They were good at something that God had called them to do because they were equipped by Him in ways much different from the worlds training. Dont let your weaknesses keep you from doing Gods will. We all have them. Use the strengths which He has given you and lean on those more to compensate for your weaknesses. If youre a teacher and youre not good at speaking, maximize your gift of interacting with students. If youre a manager but not good at organizing, lean on your skills in facilitating. God has given you something unusual but sufficient and excellent to do His work despite your weaknesses. Show Gods grace and power in you by being the best at those which God has graciously given you.
Posted on: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 13:14:11 +0000