2 Corinthians 12:10 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.
Earlier, Paul forewarned his
readers he would start sarcastically boasting concerning his credentials as an
apostle (1 Corinthians 12:1a). He would do this to ridicule and mock his self-aggrandizing
opposers in the church in Corinth. However, in all his writings and letters to
the Churches he had ministered at, his emphasis was not on swaggering but on
his powerlessness and misery. In the verse right before our verse of the day,
Paul made his motivations very apparent (2 Corinthians 12:9). He told his
readers of the day and, by extension, us today that our power is made evident
in our weakness. In boasting about our weaknesses, we can be sure that the
power of Christ Jesus will lead us in every path that God calls us to.
The Greek word Paul used here,
teleitai, refers to completion or accomplishment. Paul wanted to show how much
weaker he was, as a person, in comparison to his opponents. Then the
Corinthians would know just how powerful Christ was, as they looked to and
through Paul's life. In that way, He turned boasting upside down. Paul doesn't
care if others think he is weak; he desires all to be aware of his weakness. He
is content even during his trials and tribulations, for Christ's sake. Paul had
found peace, and his faults showed God's strength. It set Paul's earthly life
aside, making allowance for the power of Jesus to achieve God's calling in his
life.
Believers must trust God totally
in all aspects of our lives where we experience weakness or suffer the most.
The power of God is never more unambiguous than when our human perception has
no answers for what we are going through or what confronts us. In that same
seemingly backward way, Christians who trust God are most potent when they
experience the least self-reliance. God's power is far and away more capable
than our own.
The application by which we
work in and through our weakness demonstrates God’s power in heaven and on earth.
Any privilege we might think we have through Christ Jesus does not exclude us
from pain and suffering. Jesus was not exempt from worldly pain and suffering;
He experienced more agony and torment that most of us can even imagine. Our
Lord went through the most excursing pain ever known to humankind, the Roman Crucifixion
so that you and I might have the opportunity to know and experience eternal
life. God works in our lives is a way that is a mystery to us when we find
ourselves in need, materially, physically, or spiritually (2 Corinthians 1:9).
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