We tend to think of grace as simply the unmerited favor God bestows in salvation. But daily God shows His favor by giving us power to endure even the most difficult situations.
But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me. So because of Christ, I am pleased in weaknesss, in insults, in catastrophes, in persecutions, and in pressures. For when I am weak, than I am strong. (2 Cor. 12:9)
Clearly, Paul sets forth that God’s grace is power. Paul could be pleased in every weakness, insult, catastrophe, persecution and pressure of any kind because each cirumstance was an opportunity for the power of God to fashion him into a mature man with a stature measured by Christ’s fulness. (Eph. 4:13) God’s grace was sufficient to give him both the desire and the power to endure and even overcome. (The triumph, by the way, IS being conformed to the image of Christ, not necessarily the cessation of a difficult time or ”winning” in a controversy.) Not that he took pride in always being in some kind of trouble, mind you, but when he found himself in the daily pressures of life, he was pleased to give God’s grace a platform to shine. And if I want God’s power to be perfected in me, I too must be pleased with–not merely content or resigned to–unpleasant circumstances. To have any other attitude is to resist the grace of God. God’s power at work within me will be evident to others as I reflect His grace.
Lord, I want to be pleased for you to manifest Your power in any circumstance I find myself:
- weakness
- insult
- catastrophe
- persecution
- pressure
The thing that will bring me pleasure in these circumstances is that they give Your power an opportunity to be displayed. When Your power is shown Your name will be known, and I will give You praise for what You do in and through me.
When I am not pleased for God’s power to be perfected in my circumstances, I am getting “entangled in the concerns of everyday life” (the weaknesses, the insults, the catastrophes, the persecutions, the pressures). When that happens I am not pleasing to my “recruiter.” (2 Tim. 2:4) I am not pleasing because I’m not walking in faith. (Heb.11:6) If I’m not walking in faith, I’m not walking in the Spirit but in the flesh. (Gal. 5:16)
Lord, help me to be mindful of these things when I am weak, when I am insulted, when a catastrophe occurs, when I am persecuted, and when I am under pressure. Help me remember that Your grace is sufficient and pleasing You–not myself–is my goal!
