Overview of: 2 CorinthiansToday's Reading:
2Cor. 11:1 – 13:14
"Apostleship"
Focus Verses: 2 Cor. 12:8-10
8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.10 That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Insight:
Most of us find it difficult to admit weaknesses, let alone delight in them. Paul wasn't even really happy about hardships and weaknesses. He cried out to God asking him to remove them. Paul had learned, however, that his weaknesses and hardships revealed the evidence of God's grace and strength in his life.
Paul had come to see that his problems and difficulties were windows for God's grace and God's strength to shine through. This gave him a new perspective. He could delight in weaknesses because God was clearly displayed through them. He could see the his own limitations as a strength because they give witness to God's strength and provision.
Response and Action:
I need to recognize my weaknesses and limitations. I need to rely on God's strength. Reliance on God and openness about my weaknesses and problems can be a testimony that leads others to trust and praise God.
O God, help me to live for you and through you in thought, word, and deed. Help me to lean on you and look to you for strength. May my reliance upon your strength, and my humble acknowledgment of my own weakness, be a testimony and praise to you. Amen.
Old Testament for Today: Joel 3:10
10 Beat your plowshares into swords and your pruning hooks into spears. Let the weakling say, "I am strong!"
In Context: Joel 3
Proverb for Today: Prov. 4:23
"Above all else, guard your heart, for everything you do flows from it."
Recommended Reading:
2 Corinthians: Finding Strength in Weakness
by Paul Stevens
