When was the last time you saw someone – or a ministry – boasting in their weaknesses? We generally avoid our weaknesses, we try desperately to hide them, not highlight them. But what if I told you that the way of Jesus is the path of weakness, not that of power? That is not so attractive in our world.
It isn’t surprising to me that we avoid weakness… we don’t like that feeling of vulnerability and needing to be dependent on someone else. So, no, that’s not our natural inclination to embrace our weaknesses.
What I typically see churches emphasis is power, not weakness. And, I get it, power is attractive. The problem I see though is it lacks the totality of God’s Word.
Consider with me 2 Corinthians 12:7b-10, Paul says this:
“So that I would not exalt myself, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to torment me so that I would not exalt myself. Concerning this, I pleaded with the Lord three times that it would leave me. But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me. So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and in difficulties, for the sake of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong. [Emphasis added.]”
“Power perfected in weakness”… “when I am weak, then I am strong”. These seem to get lost in today’s power-focused messages. Frankly, we don’t want the weakness, we want the power. But that’s not the Jesus way.
Paul says that he will boast in his weaknesses so that he points to Christ in his life. He says in Philippians 3 that he counts - all his gains for self-sufficiency - a loss for the sake of knowing Christ Jesus his Lord!
The path of Jesus is one of weakness before power.
I agree with AW Tozer who said, “It is doubtful whether God can bless a man greatly until He has hurt him deeply. …Without doubt, we of this generation have become too soft to scale great spiritual heights. Salvation has come to mean deliverance from unpleasant things. Our hymns and sermons create for us a religion of consolation and pleasantness. We overlook the pace of the thorns, the cross and the blood.”
I fear that when we ignore the path of Jesus for the sake of just having the power, we miss Jesus and we miss His work and presence in the midst of dying to ourselves and the suffering He has us to go through. But we cannot skip the dying if we want Jesus, if we want His strength.
Our weaknesses, our brokenness before the Lord… really, our dependence upon Him is the way. We don’t have it in ourselves, we are not sufficient for our days, we need Him and His strength to face and get through our days. It is in the places of our shame and weakness and inability to navigate our days that He wants to meet us in.
Let’s consider our dependence upon Him, of our leaning into Him all the more – recognizing our need for His Spirit to make it through our day(s).
“Lord, help!” That’s our starting point.
I look forward to worshiping in person tomorrow.
To God be the glory!
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