wrestling:with:truth

In reflection on 2 Corinthians the passage, which stood out the most, was chapter twelve. The reasoning for this is because more than a lot of other Pauline writings we find Paul writing from a place of authenticity. A place in which he is ashamed of and longs for God to take this thorn out of his side. Here in lies the greatness of this piece of text. In verse nine we read Jesus say to Paul that his grace is sufficient for him, and that Jesus power is made perfect in his weakness. Paul goes on to finish this passage by saying, “For when I am weak, then I am strong.” It is almost as if Paul is saying, “Brown is the new black.” This is a phrase that says this is the new way of doing things. These are the new trends in fashion. Paul is saying, “Weak is the new strong.”

For when one finds his or herself weak they are strong. Because when we surrender our expectations or our inhibitions we can find that we are weak and in need of help from our Creator. Often in our culture and our approach to mission we try everything our way first. Then after failure happens we then turn to God for help. This is backwards if we look at what Paul has told us to do. In our weakness we need to turn to Jesus first from that point of weakness there comes strength. This is such a revolutionary way of thinking and doing things. If we were to first surrender our desires for what our King desires then we are admitting to our weakness and are in need of strength. We cannot do this on our own.
This also applies to our own struggles when we are in ministry or on the mission field. We all have personal thorns things in which we feel that we are not worthy of doing ministry, yet there is grace. There is something in which Jesus does when he takes us at our point of weakness. A place when we feel that we are not worthy of advancing the kingdom and we find Jesus saying to us, “My grace is sufficient.” If this passage is not a “sigh of relief” for us as Christians then I do not know what relief may look like? Jesus offers us something that we are clearly not worthy of but because of our weakness he is able to shine through.

We are incredibly blessed to have this opportunity for our weaknesses to now become strengths. We no longer have to live in fear that God will not use us because of our downfalls. When we live under a way of living that weak is the new strong we can experience freedom at its fullest form. Paul follows up in saying that we should not be afraid of our weakness more over we should be glad because we know that God will shine through the darkness and the light will be seen for all.