Boast in your weakness

Why would I follow up my last post, "Be strong in the Lord," with a paradoxical statement like "boast in your weakness?" Be strong in the Lord and boast in your weakness. Hmm. "Paradox," of course means "a seemingly contradictory statement that may nonetheless be true." These statements, to some, may seem to be contradictory... but yet it all adds up!

In my last post, and in the links I provided for my previous posts that went along with that post, one thing that I was aiming at was showing how everything that has to do with us being "strong in the Lord" is the result of God's grace, and His gifts to us. In no way, shape or form is it our own human strength that we're relying upon. Our own strength, compared to the strength we have in the Lord, is really nothing more than weakness.

Which leads us to boasting in our weakness. Paul goes crazy with the word "boast" in his letters to the Corinthians (especially 2 Corinthians), as well as in a few other letters. What is it that he's boasting about? He's boasting about his own weakness and he's boasting about the Lord's strength. They go hand in hand.

I guess one could say that Paul is boasting in his humanness. Of course he's not "celebrating" how weak he is as a human in such a way as to say, "Look at me! I'm weak and I sin, and I'm "just human" and that's just the way I am, so Woo Hoo!" Now, the truth is that he is weak and he does sin and he is "just human" - in and of himself. And we could leave it right there and just think that's the end of the story.

But that's not the end of the story! Paul "boasts" in his weakness, in his humanness, because it means that he is rejecting the idea that in and of himself he is strong and powerful. In Philippians 3 he lists out his human strengths and righteous deeds that he formerly boasted in - and it's a pretty impressive list! But before there's any chance for any applause or adoration from his readers, he promptly says "I count it all as dung!" Why does he count it all as dung? So that he can be found in Christ alone, not having his own righteousness, but rather the only righteousness that counts - God's righteousness that is given freely as a gift.

We "boast" in our human weakness because letting go of our own sense of strength and righteousness opens up the door for the Lord's strength and righteousness. Paul says, "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."

Related: The Sufficiency of Grace

I Am

Ginny Owens - I Am



No Lord, he said, you've got the wrong guy
Simple conversation gets me tongue-tied
And you're telling me to speak with a maniac king
Or could it be I've lost my mind

Besides, I am weak, don't you want someone strong
To lead them out of Egypt when they've been there so long
And anyway, they won’t believe You ever spoke to me
It's not your problem, God replied
And the rest is history

There's a bigger picture you can't see
You don't have to change the world, just trust in Me
'Cause I am your creator, I am working out my plan
And through you I will show them I Am

Now Lord, are you sure? He's just a shepherd boy
Too small for battle gear with a giant to destroy
What on earth can he do with five stones and a sling
It's not your problem, God replied
'Cause I can do anything

There's a bigger picture you can't see
You don't have to change the world, just trust in me
'Cause I am your creator, I am working out my plan
And through you, I will show them

I am the first, I am the last
I am the present and the past
I am tomorrow and today
I am the only way

Great Lord, she said, I'm just a simple girl
You say that I will bring your Son into the world
How can I understand this thing You're gonna do
It's not your problem, God replied

'Cause, there's a bigger picture
And you don't have to change the world
I'm your creator, I am working out my plan
And through you, I will show them
There's a bigger picture, you can't see
You don't have to change the world, just trust in me
I'm your creator, I am working out my plan
And through you, I will show them I Am
I Am

Slow-cooking together

I try to be at least somewhat vulnerable on this blog. I mean, while not getting into the nitty gritty of my deepest and darkest fears, weaknesses, problems, etc, I've tried to be open in a way that I hope others can relate to in one way or another. I've shared about everything from my past marriage problems to my current and ongoing apprehension when it comes to talking on the phone! In sharing stuff like this, I know it's easy to give the impression that I live life in the curled up fetal position, sucking my thumb, afraid to do anything! But of course you know that's not true at all, and I know that that's not the case for anyone else who has shared their experiences here. Whenever I expose any of my weaknesses, it's always for the purpose of pointing to the overcoming God who lives in me!

I lived a good chunk of my life wearing masks and putting up walls. Essentially, being fake. But during the past 10 to 15 years I've been taking off the masks and breaking down the walls and just wanting to be real. There were times in my early Christian life in which I lied about what God was doing in my life because I wanted people to believe in the power of God! Isn't that just plain silly? I hadn't experienced some of the great and miraculous things that I'd heard some of my pentecostal friends talk about, and I thought that perhaps my faith just wasn't big enough. I didn't want others to think less of me. I wanted to impress them by making them think I had great faith! On top of that, I thought that unless I had some great and miraculous testimonies to share, I wouldn't be able to help other people believe in this great God of mine. So from time to time I would greatly exaggerate stories and even make up stories about what God had done in my life.

But over the years I've grown. I've truly seen God at work in my life, and it's generally not been in the form of great fireworks displays, at least not in a way that would make great headlines. It's been mostly slow, steady growth. Not a fast boil, but a nice slow cook. And it's not been because of my "great" faith. It's been because of my great God. Now, there have truly been occasions in which I've quickly overcome various problems and obstacles, such as the story I've shared about suddenly overcoming panic attacks. I'm glad that I can share stories like that without exaggerating. But most of my sins and weaknesses have not been overcome suddenly like that. Some of them have been overcome and put to death over the long haul, and some of them I still haven't overcome yet.

The point here, though, is not to focus on the things I need to overcome. I've found that when I gaze steadily at my weaknesses, there is no power to overcome them! But when I gaze steadily at the Person who lives inside me, the Holy Spirit, then "there is power, power, wonder working power." And again, the thing I've found out, at least in my own life, is that the wonder working power of the Holy Spirit does not generally provide for quick fixes!

Another reason for sometimes being vulnerable here is because I've come to find out that I'm not the only one dealing with various issues in life. When I keep quiet about some of these things, it's very easy for me to think I'm the only one who's ever dealt with certain things. And on the other side of the coin, it's very easy for someone else to think that they're the only one who deals with certain things. But by being open I've found that other people truly do relate, even if the specific issues aren't always exactly the same.

I hope for this to be the type of blog in which people can feel free to just "be." If you're a 'lurker' who simply reads the posts and the comments, but who doesn't participate, I hope you will be greatly encouraged by the things that are said here. And if you do participate, whether often or occasionally, I hope that you feel free to be yourself as you share what's on your heart. I know that that's the case on the blogs of the people who comment here, as well as with the other blogs and websites that I've linked to on the right.

Overall, this blog is for those who are tired of religion and legalism and who simply want to grow in their relationship with Jesus, not based upon the performance-based rules, methods, principles and laws of the church that have only served to leave people hungrier and thirstier (the opposite of what is intended), but rather based upon hunger-and-thirst-quenching intimacy with the Holy Spirit as He teaches us and assures us of the unconditional love and grace of God through the scriptures, through direct revelation to us and through each other! This blog is for those who want to "let your roots grow down into (Jesus) and draw up nourishment from him, so you will grow in faith, strong and vigorous in the truth you were taught..." (from Col. 2:7 NLT).

We're all in this together!