How well are you investing your weaknesses?
Perhaps no one has ever asked you that question before. Maybe it doesn’t sound brilliant. After all, people invest assets to increase their value. They don’t invest in liabilities. They try to eliminate, minimize, or cover up liabilities. It’s easy to see strengths as assets. Most of us consider our weaknesses liabilities—deficiencies to minimize, cover-up, or even “fix.”
But God, in his wisdom, gives us our weaknesses just as he gives us our strengths. If that sounds weird to you, you are not alone. In God’s economy, where the return on investment (ROI) He values is “faith working through love” (Galatians 5:6), then weaknesses become assets in His hands. We can even call them talents to be stewarded and invested. It may be the most valuable asset God has given you to steward. Weakness may be your best weapon in our spiritual fight.
A person is seen from above, pulling on a thick rope. Much of the rope lies tangled to one side.
Photo by Stijn Swinnen on Unsplash
I know I love to try and be the I-can-do-it-all Christian. Making perfect grades in school or raising well-behaved children while maintaining the squeaky-clean Christian reputation in the church. (I didn’t say I was successful at it).
When we encounter a challenge that seems too much to handle, we often blame ourselves for not being “strong enough, wise enough, or spiritual enough.”
Somehow, we think that God expects us to do everything quickly and never cave beneath the pressures of life.
But we were not created to bear this life through our strength. We don’t even have within ourselves the ability to bear its weight! So why do we try so hard to look like Miss or Mr. Independent Christian when God frowns upon this approach to life? We can’t conquer anything apart from God’s sufficient grace.
I wonder if He purposely created our physical bodies to cave beneath pressure so that we would remember that we can do nothing apart from Him (see John 15:5). Rather than allowing weakness to frustrate us, we should instead use these weaknesses to propel us closer to Christ, drawing supernatural strength from the power of the Holy Spirit.
Paul’s most famous statement on spiritual weakness is shown in 2 Corinthians. He speaks about being “caught up in paradise,” where he received overwhelming revelations (2 Corinthians 12:1–4). A thorn was given to him in the process, a messenger of Satan to harass him. Paul pleaded with the Lord three times that it would be taken away. In reply, the Lord said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” He will go on to say that for Christ’s sake, “I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Corinthians 12:7–10)
Paul completely reframes how we should view weaknesses. The painful ones, or the embarrassing ones that appear to hinder our calling, end up assisting us instead. The powers of darkness seek to exploit them until we turn to the Spirit for help. What at first seems to us like an expensive liability is a valuable, God-given asset.
Do you have any weaknesses? It seems that God is searching for believers who confess their flaws and shortcomings and give them up to him as an offering; in doing that, His purposes will be accomplished. This is why Jesus left behind the Holy Spirit, after all. As we dwell in Him, we can be empowered to embrace the uncomfortable, including suffering and persecution, all to extend His Kingdom.
This means that the weaker we are, the more His power can be displayed within and through us. Paul was right—we have every right to boast about our weaknesses! Invest them wisely.
Please pray For: Our watermelon distribution. We have received over 1,000 melons that we want to give to the people of the community.
Please pray For: Geri, who has terminal cancer and needs a new round of chemo.
Please Thank God For: Returning guests at our congregation here in Miramar.
Please pray For: Joey, who is recovering from surgery.
Please pray For: Robert, who has been diagnosed with sinus cancer.
Please Pray For: Joyce Brosch and her ongoing therapy.
Please Pray For: Geri Nay, who is struggling with chemo and heart problems.
Please Pray For: Kathy Duitsman, who has breast cancer.
Please Thank God For: All those who lift us up in prayer.
Please Pray For: Leela Izzo, that God would strengthen and heal her.
Please pray For: Jarrett, who is recovering from a traumatic brain injury, and his mother, Heather, who is caring for him.
Please Pray For: Those who struggle with housing needs.
Please pray For: All those who are out of work.