Friends in Christ Message for July 5, 2003

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Friends in Christ Weekly Message
July 5, 2003

     At first I didn't think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me,

     My grace is enough; it's all you need.
     My strength comes into its own in your weakness.

Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ's strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size - abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.
2 Corinthians 12:8-10 (Message*)

A handicap a gift? That sure sounds strange. And the apostle Paul never says just what this handicap was. But that's unimportant, because the passage makes clear that this attitude should apply to any kind of limitation we face.

The key here is not depending on our own strength, but to let Christ's strength work through us. The stronger and more capable we feel, the more we are tempted to try to do things in our own strength. When we feel called to something but don't feel strong or competent enough to carry it out, then we may be much quicker to rely on Christ to do it through us. Even if we have no obvious limitations, we can't begin to do what Christ can. Thus the seeming paradox that "the weaker I get, the stronger I become."

May we each quit bellyaching about our weaknesses, our bad breaks, opposition we face, etc. May we trust that God's grace is indeed enough; it's all we need. May we let Christ take over in our lives, and glory that His strength is shown in our weakness. Praise God!

Bill Samuel