Renewing Our Strength #22

In his letters to the Corinthian church, Paul had a lot of hard things he had to say to professing followers of Christ who were selfish, sensual, and self-focused.  But Paul did not speak from self-righteousness or take it easy on himself, as we see near the end of his second letter, in the twelfth chapter:

7 So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave 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 of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 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.

Paul recognized the pride within us all - that since the Fall, when arrogant Satan put those seed thoughts in the mind of Eve, we all have these tendencies to think we are the wisest, strongest, and most discerning, and that it is everyone else who is a mess.  Paul says: "God made me know I am a mess too; He allowed me to see my weakness." One of the greatest hindrances to our having our strength renewed by the Lord is our unwillingness to face reality and to admit how much we really need Christ to do so.  Until we do so, we will never really understand how powerful God is.