In 2 Corinthians 12:10, the Apostle Paul wrote one of the most counter-intuitive sentences ever:
“So I take pleasure in weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and in difficulties, for the sake of Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
This sentence makes absolutely no sense.
Who takes pleasure in things like weakness, insults, hardships, persecutions, and difficulties, even if they’re for Jesus? We normally try to avoid these things, and if we end up suffering them, we don’t usually take pleasure in them.
And how does it make sense to say that when we’re weak, then we’re strong?
That’s like saying that we’re skinny when we’re fat or we’re rich when we’re broke.
Paul understood something that doesn’t make sense to us at first but is one of the most important lessons we can ever learn:
Weakness may be our greatest strength. Your greatest asset may be your weakness.
Weakness helps us in three ways:
Weakness humbles us.
Paul was a remarkable guy. He was smart. He was persistent. He wrote a lot of the New Testament. God used him to spread the Gospel throughout the Roman Empire. He had spiritual experiences that I’ve never enjoyed (2 Corinthians 12:2-4).
Weakness may be our greatest strength. Your greatest asset may be your weakness.
In all this, he could have become conceited.
Enter Paul’s weaknesses. They prevented Paul from becoming proud: “Therefore, so that I would not exalt myself, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to torment me so that I would not exalt myself” (2 Corinthians 12:7).
Paul saw his weaknesses as a gift that helped shield him from one of our greatest spiritual dangers: pride. God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6).
Sometimes, guys want to look stronger than we actually are. We pretend like we can handle more than we really can.
Weakness forces us to drop the charade and admit that this isn’t true, which can actually lead to a much better way to live.
Weakness helps us avoid pride. It actually becomes a gift to prevent us from one of the greatest spiritual dangers: the danger of thinking that we’re more than we actually are.
Weakness allows us to experience Christ’s strength.
Just as a hybrid car runs on two energy sources—electric batteries and fuel—Paul ran on two energy sources: his own power and Christ’s power.
But these two sources of energy were not at all equal. His own power was very limited. His weakness forced him to turn to another vastly superior energy source: Christ’s resurrection power, and this made all the difference.
“Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me,” Paul wrote (2 Corinthians 12:9). “Paul’s utter weakness was the platform for resurrection power,” writes Kent Hughes.[1]
Without our weaknesses, we’d probably live our lives sputtering on our own limited power. But because we’re weak, we learn to depend on the unlimited power of Christ to do what we could never do on our own.
Picture trying to live off the energy of a 9-volt battery compared to living off the energy of the Robert-Bourassa Generating Station, a hydroelectric power station in northern Quebec, the most powerful underground generating station in the world.[2]
Which would you choose?
Until we tap into Christ’s resurrection power, we’ll be living off our own weak power. Weakness will help us switch to a greater power source, giving us all the power we need for all the challenges we face.
Weakness helps us serve others.
As a result of his weakness, Paul related to others differently. He didn’t approach others in strength. He approached them from the perspective of someone who had suffered and often spoke of his weaknesses: “Therefore, I will most gladly boast all the more about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may reside in me” (2 Corinthians 12:9).
I helped to start a brand-new church in 2013. I had initially planned on starting the church based on many of the strengths I had built over years of ministry.
But in the year leading up to the founding of this new church, I experienced more suffering in my life than I’d ever experienced before.
As a result, the church began differently. Instead of a church based on my strength, we started a church based on our weakness and God’s strength.
It helped me relate to people in the community differently. Instead of saying, “Come let us help you with our strengths,” our church was able to say, “We struggle too. Let’s come to Jesus with our weaknesses and ask Him for His strength.”
“Your neediness, offered well to someone else, can be one of the great gifts you give to your church,” writes Ed Welch.[3]
I’ve spent years fighting weakness. The irony is that weakness is actually our greatest strength.
Don’t fight your weaknesses. Embrace them and allow them to humble you, help you tap into Christ’s power, and serve others.
It turns out that the most muscular guys are the guys who embrace their weakness and God’s strength.
[1] Hughes, R. Kent. 2 Corinthians: Power in Weakness, Preaching the Word (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2006), 213.
[2] https://www.hydroquebec.com/facility-tours/tours-general-public/robert-bourassa-baie-james.html
[3] Welch, Edward T. Side by Side: Walking with Others in Wisdom and Love (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 2006), 15 (Kindle Edition).
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