Weaknesses are often seen as hindrances to success. In the eyes of God, however, weaknesses are nothing but tools for us to draw near to Him, and for Him to show His might to and through us.
How do you see your weaknesses?
Hindering Weight or Stepping Stone?
We can either view our weaknesses as a hindering weight that stops us from soaring in the service of God, or as a stepping stone that we can use to see from a vantage point. It's up to us to choose, but we must only choose one of the two.
Many Christians consider their weaknesses as weights that hinder them in their pursuit of God. Some feel cursed for being born with a handicap. But I'm sure Mr. Nick Vujicic won't agree with that, and Jesus, too. Consider the man who was born blind in John 9:
"'Rabbi,' his disciples asked him, 'why was this man born blind? Was it because of his own sins or his parents' sins?' 'It was not because of his sins or his parents' sins,' Jesus answered. 'This happened so the power of God could be seen in him.'" (John 9:2-3)
Now let's read what the blind-now-seeing man said about Jesus in John 9:33:
"If this man were not from God, he couldn't have done it."
From here we see that the man was able to see God clearly because God used that handicap for His glory. When God does something to and through our weaknesses, we will surely be surprised!
Our Weakness, His Strength
Paul said in 2 Corinthians 12:8-10:
"Three different times I begged the Lord to take [the thorn in my flesh] away. Each time he said, '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."
Many, if not all, of us are at least familiar with that. However, unlike Paul, many of us find taking pleasure in our weaknesses impossible. After all, who would glory in their tendency to fail or commit sin? No one should. But we should glory in the power of the resurrection of Christ, who gives us grace to say "no" to sin.
Friends, God uses our weaknesses to display His power in us. No, we don't enjoy our weaknesses. Rather, we must grow weary of fighting them in our own strength, enough to propel us to get down on our knees and pray to God for His grace to enable us to overcome.
We must grow tired of our incapacity to win against our weakness with our own strength. Only then we will be able to fully rely on and obey God for our victory over it.
