Blessing in Weakness

04.11.12

2 Corinthians 11.30 30 If I have to boast, I will boast of what pertains to my weakness. NASB

Now, I’m gonna tell you that I haven’t always understood the argument of Paul in his letters but I know enough to know that he was under attack by a group of people who didn’t think he was genuine – they, themselves being disingenuous. What they boasted in was human strength in keeping the Law of Moses. What Paul boasted in was his weakness and his need for Christ.

If you compare world religions you’ll find all but one boast of human strength and achievement. But what do we expect; religion is all about what I can do for God in keeping the rules, and what He can do for me because I keep the rules. In my own strength I demonstrate to God and prove to Him that I am worthy of His blessings. This mindset couldn’t be farther from the truth. But that is human religion – an intricate web of thought that demands God reward me for my goodness.

If you contrast faith in Christ with that mindset, the only thing I prove to God is how weak I am, and how desperately I need Him. And that was what Paul was trying to convey to the Corinthians: he was weak, and he needed Christ. In admitting weakness we find strength because in reality our strength comes from Christ alone. Jesus was the Only One who ever completely kept the rules and He did it not to show how good He was but to demonstrate how desperately He needed God – right up to the cross. Paul understood human achievement amounted to nothing and only in complete submission to Christ are we blessed.

Paul’s detractors were people who were caught up in humanism. They insisted humans needed to do something for God to garner His pleasure – kind of a, you-owe-me sort of arrangement. God doesn’t owe anybody anything. That doesn’t mean He doesn’t care, it’s just that He doesn’t owe us anything in response to how we live. God offers friendship to those who will accept it and then He blesses them because He wants to – God takes care of His friends. That’s what Paul was trying to help them understand. And the legalists would have none of it.

So, that’s why Paul boasted in his weakness: he was weak and that’s all he had. And without Christ he knew he was less than nothing. Jesus Christ was Paul’s sole reason for living. Jesus Christ was Paul’s response to living according to the rules. Jesus Christ was Paul’s life and without Him Paul admitted there was nothing left but slavery to the rules and ultimately death.

Boasting in weakness is the cure for arrogance – God gives grace to the humble and opposes the proud. And if grace is nothing more than His favor, then it’s worth finding favor with God because I trust in Him, than finding opposition from Him because I think I can impress Him by keeping the rules. It’s not about rules anyway, it’s about relationship; and I can’t live at God’s level even if I tried with all of my might – my might is never enough; the finite can never become infinite – but the finite can become the friend of the Infinite. 

So, His grace is all-sufficient for me and I am at my best when I admit that. If strength is to be found in anything at all it’s to be found in my devotion to this truth: without Him I am nothing. My weakness before God underscores my dependence upon God; and as long as I am dependent upon God, then I am not depending on myself. It’s that simple.