Laced With Grace – Christian Devotions

Beautifully Weak

By Guest Blogger November 8, 2011 Devotion, Hope

I hate to cry. Really, I hate it! I hate any sign of weakness. It’s one of the things no one warned me about when I became a Christ follower – that somewhere inside, Jesus’ Spirit magnifies the sensitivity of your soul so that both sadness and joy bring tears. It’s not that I was so strong before Christ became the center of my universe. I was not. But I certainly tried to be, and, under the right circumstances, I could muster strength that would shock anyone that knows me now.

I sometimes wonder if His strength made me weaker?

Or maybe the strength of Jesus gave me permission to not have to try to be something I was not. To not have to be strong where my strength glorified no one but me. There’s something to living in your weakness through His strength. There’s something almost exhilarating in it – something beautiful… something glorious even.

Paul wrote about the beauty of weakness in writing to the Corinthians in 2 Corinthians 12:9, where he recalled God’s words to him.

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 of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (ESV)

This followed a long discussion of the trials he had suffered during the 14 years since Jesus met him on the road to Damascus. (2 Corinthians 11:16-33). His weakness had been on display for all to see – not just the thorn in his flesh he refers to in 2 Corinthians 12:8, but having been stoned, shipwrecked, beaten and even lowered from a city wall in a basket. Crying doesn’t seem so bad in comparison to having to flee in a basket over a city wall into a dump just days after being given the key to the city.

Yet the weakness that Paul was reveling in was weakness for the sake of the Gospel message. He was beaten, stoned, shipwrecked, and eventually beheaded for the sake of telling others about the salvation that can only be had in Christ, Jesus. (1 Corinthians 1:25).

“If you are reviled for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you.”  – 1 Peter 4:14 (NASB)

Both Paul and Peter wrote about the Spirit of God resting “upon” you. That’s the beauty – Jesus’ Spirit is not only in you, but also upon you. Jesus’ Spirit is strong in my weakness – He is the smile behind the tears – and the hope that only comes from a relationship with Jesus.

Hope that glorifies Jesus, not me. That points to a better way. That lasts longer than my own strength ever could.

Hope.

That tells of a savior and a gift and a hope for all.

And that’s beautifully weak.

4 thoughts on “Beautifully Weak”

  1. Dawn

    I take this with me today, Niccol: “There’s something to living in your weakness through His strength. There’s something almost exhilarating in it – something beautiful… something glorious even.”

    I, too, am still learning the beauty of weakness.

    Dawn