WHEN I AM WEAK, THEN I AM STRONG
2 Corinthians 11 and 12
“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.”
Right from chapter 10, Paul was leading to this major point: the less things are about me, the less important I am, the more Christ’s power will rest on me.
We must be clear, however, that this is because we seek to obey God and conform to his ways. Our eyes are on Christ and not on any notion of success.
Dealing with the church in humility and gentleness, Paul was mocked for being timid. People described him as unimpressive and not charismatic when he speaks. He did not solicit funds and people think that his ministry has little value. When we read of his exploits we see that Paul suffered a great deal and that can be seen as a negative as well. After all, surely a servant of God will be well-protected and cared for by God, blessed with his own private jet plane.
To Paul, even his credentials as a Jew was a negative because he persecuted Christians in his past. The only positive thing he shared was his “out-of-body” experience and even then he was not permitted to tell others about what he saw and heard. On top of that God allowed “a thorn in the flesh” to keep him from conceit.
However, from Paul’s perspective, being kept weak allows Christ’s power to be channelled through his ministry. The implication is that when he is full of himself there will be little of Christ.
And so Paul sums it all with this: I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
The way of God is different from the way of the world and so Paul tells his critics “The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.” The signature move of God is his Son helplessly nailed to a cross and exposed to the ridicule of the people. How can his servants ever think that victory is predicated on political authority, personal charisma, the influence of wealth and power, and the boldness to demolish the opposition?
“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”