Dive Deeper

     All human beings struggle with hardships and difficulties.  Even though everyone knows that no one’s life is perfect, we often feel that our weaknesses or struggles keep us from doing great things from God.  Thinking this way often leads to feelings of shame or unworthiness.  Sometimes we may even think that if God can’t use us because of our weaknesses, then God must not love us or care for us.  

     While it may be common to feel unloved or unwanted because of our shortcomings, God still loves us and wants a relationship with us more than we could fathom.  Many of us are ashamed of our weaknesses, but our weaknesses are often the places in which God chooses to work and glorify Himself.

     The Bible is filled with people who had weaknesses but who were used by God to do incredible things for the Kingdom.  In the Old Testament, we meet a man named David who was a young shepherd boy.  David was anointed by a prophet named Samuel and the Spirit of God fell upon David.  When a giant Philistine named Goliath came to attack the Israelites, it was this young shepherd boy who went to fight the giant.  David brought only five stones and a slingshot to fight the skilled Goliath who was dressed in heavy armor, and David used a single stone to strike and kill the Philistine.  Though Goliath was physically stronger than David, God chose to reveal His power and might through David’s weakness.  

     This young boy goes on to become a powerful king over all of Israel.  While the world will focus on the shortcomings that show on the outside, the Lord looks at our hearts and turns our weaknesses into strengths.

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2 Corinthians 12:9

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.

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     In the same way that God used David to show His power, God uses us in our weaknesses to show the power of Jesus.  Because of this, we can boast about the parts of us that seem unworthy to the world because they are precious to God.  Just as David could delight in his weaker physical nature because God used it to defeat the mighty Philistine warrior, we can delight in our weaknesses, hardships, or difficulties since God uses them to show the power of Jesus.

     Our weaknesses are not things we should be ashamed of, but they are things we should boast about because once we’ve received the Spirit of God, the power of Christ is displayed in our weaknesses.  

Whenever you think that your weaknesses keep you from being used by God, remember that God used a young shepherd boy to defeat the giant.  God can use the life of a drug addict to show that Jesus’ power restores those who society has pushed aside.  God can use the life of someone who struggles with anxiety to show that the power of Christ can cast out fear.  God can use any story or past to show His power and glory, so we should share all the more about our weaknesses so that God’s glory is revealed in us.      

     The power of Christ turns our shame into confidence, our losses into victories, and our weaknesses into strengths.  Therefore, as Christians, we can delight in our weaknesses since they point the world to Jesus.

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Questions for Reflection

1. What parts of your past–or what parts of your life now–are you ashamed to share because they highlight weaknesses of yours?

2. What would it look like to boast of your weakness?  How could you do this in a way that would point to God’s work in your life?

3. Have there been times that God has used a weakness of yours to show the strength of Jesus?