My Weaknesses

"Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.  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." 2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Recently I've been thinking about the above verse.  Paul says that if he is going to boast at all, it will be in his weaknesses. (2 Corinthians 11:30)  Doesn't that seem crazy?  Who boasts in the areas they are weak in?  To me that's like putting up a super ugly picture of yourself on Facebook.  Or when catching up with a friend telling them about all the failures you've experienced in the past year.  I'm not sure about you, but that's not usually the first thing I bring up in a conversation.


A definition of boasting is to "Talk with excessive pride and self-satisfaction about one's achievements, possessions, or abilities."  Paul completely flips this definition upside down.  He does the total opposite, boasting in areas he is not good at, that he has failed, and where he can't do it on his own.

I am most likely going to go through situations that not only make me feel weak and helpless, but also make me appear weak as well.  Paul mentions that he was insulted, experienced persecution, hardship, and difficulties.  That's kind of a hard pill to swallow.  I don't want to appear weak, I want to appear like I have it all together.  I have mistakenly thought that maybe if people see that my life is put together, they will want to be a Christian because they will see how great I am making it look.  Oh, the lies I believe.  Claiming to be a Christian means the exact opposite- I have nothing together and daily need to rely on God.

I think it's good to note also here that that Paul's discussion of weakness is not centered on sin because Romans 6:12 tells us to put sin to death.  We are not to be ok with sin.  But we are to be content, even boast as Paul does, in the moments we feel weak. 

Why?  Because that is when God is most glorified because His power rests on me.  That is when I am humbled, having admitted that I need God's help and surrendered to my own abilities.

As Christians, we're pretty much guaranteed to be weak.  In 1 Corinthians 1 we are told that when we were called, we weren't wise, powerful, or noble.  God specifically chose the foolish, the weak, the low, the despised of this world to shame the strong SO THAT we would boast in God.  God didn't pick us to be a light in this world because we were awesome.  In fact we were the complete opposite.

Really the whole story of the Bible is about being weak.  We're not good enough.  We're sinful.  God had to send his Son to die to take away our sins.  We can't do it on our own.  I'm too weak.  This circumstance is too difficult for me to handle alone.

Yet I need to learn that that's when I am in the BEST place.  The perfect place, really.  Because I'm not rejoicing in my perfect checklist that I acomplished for the day, or the way my life plans are prefectly coming together, or basically, how self sufficient I am.  Most likely I'm a little terrified, feel inadequate, very unsure, and totally relient on God.  

If you want to hear a great story about a couple who boasts in their weaknesses, you should read this :)