Sometimes we see our weakness as a failure. We feel like we should be able to handle life better. We think we should have more control and not feel so crushed by daily life.
It's not failure. It's how we were made.
Clay jars.
Fragile containers.
God did not make us to endure the weight and pressure. He made us less, a little weaker than we need to be. He did this intentionally.
He is our strength. He wants us to depend on Him.
When we do that, we win.
Love Never Fails. (1 Cor. 13:8)
When we realize we don't need to depend on ourselves - that God never intended for us to be capable - then we can have confidence.
Confidence in the "author and perfecter of our faith." (Hebrews 12:2)
We run the race with His power.
We endure in His strength.
We rely on His wisdom.
We grow, not by seeking independence, but by pursuing more dependence. (John 15:1-11)
2 Corinthians 4:7-18
But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that his life may also be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.
It is written: “I believed; therefore I have spoken.” Since we have that same spirit of faith, we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you to himself. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.
2 Corinthians 12: 9-11
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. 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.
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