2 Corinthians 12.10 10 For the sake of Christ, then, I am
content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For
when I am weak, then I am strong. (ESV)
There is a difference between external weaknesses: those
caused by forces outside of us; and internal weaknesses: those of our own
invention. And really, both are absolutely necessary because if we cannot
determine our weaknesses, then we cannot determine our strength.
Paul’s argument to the Corinthians was that he was
leaning (living, loving, and leading) on a strength not his own – unlike the
super-apostles (as he calls them) who seemed to possess a strength that helped
them to get to where they were by their own cunning and ingenuity and what made
them who they were. Self-strength always
rejects external help.
Now then, Paul’s contentedness with externals weaknesses
is the key: God uses external difficulties to help us to rely not on ourselves
but on Him: God grant me the serenity to
accept the things I cannot change. The currency (if we can carefully use
such a term) of the Kingdom is weakness, not strength. Which is harder:
leadership or submission?
Paul allowed God to use difficulties in his life and
mission to keep him from himself: the seat of all that is opposed to God within
humans. If the Super-apostles rejected difficulties as a sign of weakness (and
thereby criticized Paul because of his) then they only did so in cowardice and
cunning: you can have whatever you want so
long as you get it from us. Society today is no different…at all.
Paul was content with what he had to put up with because
it helped him to see where real strength came from: outside of himself in the
presence and power of the Lord. Paul’s killer
instinct, much like that of a world-class athlete, came from finding God in
the midst of his difficulties and rejecting self’s desire to escape trouble of
any kind and just skate by unscathed. Jesus reminds His disciples that ‘just skating
by’ equates to rejecting Him. Paul’s attitude toward that was he’d rather be
torn apart by wild beasts than to reject the strength of Christ.
And Paul’s attitude toward external difficulties – those
beyond his control – was they were absolutely vital for his spiritual survival
should he cave and try to get (skate) by on his own: his own abilities and
cunning. If all I depend on is me, then I
don’t need Jesus. The more I am content on getting through difficulties
with, and only with Jesus, the more I show myself to be submitted to His leadership
and find the godly fruition of His true spiritual life. If I’m not striving for
truth, I am just settling for something not worth the effort.
God, grant me the
serenity to accept the things I cannot change or control and so give my natural
defense mechanisms over to You – finding You in my difficulties; and thereby
finding my True Strength: You. Save me from trying to be the master of my own destiny
and to develop the killer-instinct to ruthlessly give over everything in me
that doesn’t want anything to do with Your life, Your love, and Your leadership
– even in the worst of circumstances – amen.
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