God Is Greater Than Our Weaknesses

There is a woman named Angela that works out at the same Crossfit gym as my wife and I. Angela is a mother of two who was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis about 4 years ago. I tell you this simply because you would not know it if I didn’t tell you. Angela has been doing Crossfit for roughly as long as I have and she has come quite a long way in a short time period. We are a close group in our morning class and she often jokes after workouts about how annoyed she is with me as I run past her on my second lap while she is still on her first. What Angela  doesn’t know is that she pushes me (and I dare say, many others) more than she realizes. When I look over at Angela during a workout and she is still pushing, it drives me to keep going as well. She truly is a special woman and more inspirational than she knows. She does not focus on what some could see as a weakness. She focuses on everything she can do and pushes herself to do more than perhaps she originally thought she could. Angela constantly reminds me of 2 Corinthians 12:9-10. It reads, “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. 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.”

How often does the world shun weakness. Everyone in the world is constantly looking to show their strength. To show what they can do and how great they are. Yet, the only reason we have the ability to be strong is because we were first weak. Only through Christ can we obtain true strength. We need to remember this when we want to boast of our own abilities. We read in Galatians 6:14, “But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the
world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” We also read in James 4:10, “Humble yourselves in the sight of e Lord He will lift you up.”

God is so great and we must remember that He is the one who gives us strength. We should not boast in our strengths so that we may be exalted, but instead we should boast in our weaknesses that it will exalt Him. 2 Corinthians 2:11 says, “If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness.” God is greater than our weaknesses and it is only when we recognize those weaknesses and our dependence upon Him, that we can truly be strong. Just as it says in Isaiah 40:31, “But they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.” May God bless you this week and may you always remember that God is Greater!

Ben Stevenson