Some of us (?) are getting older and most of us have areas in which we wish we had greater strength and ability.
As I go on in life, I want to probe deeply the meaning and the freedom of Paul's statement in 2 CIorinthians 12:5 -- "Personally I will not boast EXCEPT in my weaknesses." We don't often, if ever, think of weakness as something to brag about.
In this fallen world, weakness attends everyone in some form: bodily weakness, character weakness, intellectual weakness, emotional weakness, and etc. None of this sounds like anything I would glory in or choose. But there is a vital truth I need to grasp. Although sometimes the Lord does a miracle in such cases, more often He has something BETTER (!!!) for His precious child. In the impossible circumstances of our weakness, God enables us to be stronger in reflecting the lovely characteristics of Jesus, the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). If we allow it, weakness can become a messenger of Satan to arouse self-pity and resentment against God but we need to boast with Paul (II Cor.11:30) in the things that show our weakness because God's power is shown more fully in human weakness. Our very weakness demonstrates that the power is from God and not from us. That's why God has chosen to allow the Treasure to be in weak, cracked pots.
In a condition of weakness, it becomes more obvious that it is our risen Saviour Who keeps
us going.
I just love something Dr.Packer said: "We find ourselves living baptismally, with resurrection-out-of-death as the recurring shape of our experience. And we realize with ever-growing clarity that this is the fullest and profoundest expression of the empowered Christian life."
As certain weaknesses APPEAR to make life more difficult and the task more impossible, I want this truth to get deep under my skin and become an integral part of my being. The way for me to grow stronger is to accept that each day's problems, frustrations, hindrances and accidents are God's way of teaching me to acknowledge my weakness. The power path is not human strength and ability but humble reliance on God. If I truly believe that His strength is made perfect in weakness, I will be unable to resent my many weaknesses. I will rejoice that all my weakness is God's golden opportunity to demonstrate His power. NOT I BUT CHRIST;
ALL THE TIME, EVERYWHERE, JESUS IN ME!
With love & prayers,