Do you have an addiction, a weakness, something you are aware of but just cannot shake on your own? It may be a secret, your secret, something you dare not reveal.
2 Corinthians 12:7-9 says, “To keep me from becoming conceited, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away 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.”
If I’m the only one shouting right now, it’s okay.
It is through our warts that God demonstrates to us and the world that He is Lord. Can you imagine experiencing the “perfect power” of the Lord? Apparently it’s as easy as looking in the mirror and making an honest assessment of who you really are and who you should be striving to become.
If you know and accept yourself to be a child of God, then you must attempt to be an example of God’s Word and His work. The only thing standing in your way is admitting to yourself that you can’t go it alone. You and I need help, and that help comes only from one source. It’s the perfect source and comes with consequences. The consequences begin with recognizing that there is divine purpose in your particular set of weaknesses.
When you get a hand from the Lord to overcome your addictions, your passions, your vanity, your shortcomings, you get so much more than you bargained for. According to this part of the Bible, you also get Christ’s power to work with. Isn’t that something?
No wonder Paul continues by saying, “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.”
By itself, you might wonder how Paul comes up with this conclusion. But when taken in the context of the entire passage, isn’t it true that out of many impossible situations and circumstances, God rescued you?
How many testimonies do you need to hear before you give God the praise He deserves? Or is it that you can testify on your own about frailties that have become strengths to be relied upon and give you wisdom to share?
All I’m saying is stop fighting yourself. Stop denying your insecurities. Accept them and give them too, over to the Lord. Then step back and watch God do His thing with your life. He’ll do things you never could. Then watch Him revel in those who see His divine work through you.
