Best in Weakness. Daily Devotional - January 22, 2010

Genesis 23, Matthew 22, Nehemiah 12, Acts 22

“My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness. So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong." -2 Corinthians 12:9-10

Paul was a man with a nature like mine. He was fallen, sinful and imperfect but yet somehow redeemed and in pursuit of perfection. Paul had a unique journey, one that was unlike any of the disciples that had walked on the earth with Jesus, and I think that it is for this reason that I feel like I can relate more to his story. He did not have the opportunity to watch Jesus perform miracles, sit in on story time or watch as water was turned into wine. But his transformation from persecutor to persecuted unfolded with a tremendous amount of passion and desire for God.

As I look at the many stories that Paul tells, the letters that he writes and the situations he finds himself in, there is but one thing that separates him from the many others of his day. He understood the need to be vulnerable. Even here, in Acts 22 as he stands in front of a great crowd of people he had a choice. He could have revised his story to make it less offensive or less incriminating to the people he was speaking to. But he purposefully put himself in a position where he knew he was susceptible to being wounded or hurt. Because he understood that it was in his own weakness or need that the power of Christ would work through him and make him strong. Sure enough, in the next chapter we see that because of his vulnerability he was brought before the High Council and eventually even to Caeser.

Vulnerability is an area that I struggle with a lot. I know that I am not alone in that. God has been dealing with me greatly in this area and it has been quite painful to be honest. I do not like to admit that I am wrong (neither do you), I do not enjoy realizing that I am selfish and I do NOT like allowing others to see my imperfection. Yet you see, it is in the most defined moments of our vulnerability that we really allow God to move. Because His power works best in weakness. His power works best in my weakness. And it is in those moments of weakness that somehow in the end, God makes us strong. If God used Paul so greatly in the moments of his weakness, then wouldn't God use us in ours?

God works in our weaknesses and in the end He is glorified. What weakness is standing in your way?

Lauren Basse