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The word of God says in 2Cor 12:9,10 ~ 9And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. 10Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake: for when I am weak, then am I strong.
We often mistake weakness for sin even though weakness can lead to sin, but God's greatest asset in us is our weakness. God's plan is to reduce us to nothing. John the baptist said it this way, I must decrease and He must increase / John 3:30. Think of how hard that is for someone who thinks themselves to be something when in reality they are nothing before God. A preacher, many moons ago, gave this equation when speaking on this subject; GOD + 0 = GOD. The problem that God has in revealing Himself to man is you and me. So God has to reduce us to a big fat ZERO (0) and God uses our weakness, through the cross, to do just that.
Don't let this come as a surprise but God may have to let us miserable fail over and over to reduce us. The problem that we have is that we don't want to be reduced but God can not make His strength perfect in our weakness without reducing us. He reduces us so that we can receive grace and as we receive grace He increases in us. Isn't that what we really want, for God to reveal His Son in us and through us to others by grace? But for some reason we think we have a better way for that to happen. God gave Paul a thorn in his flesh (a demon to buffet him) so that he would not exalt himself above measure. Even though Paul prayed three time for that thorn to depart from him, God would not remove it and told Paul that His grace was sufficient and that His strength is made perfect in weakness / 2Cor 12:7-9.
We are all weak vessels and that is exactly the way God wants it. In weakness we have to trust Him, depend upon Him and humble ourselves before Him. In weakness we get to know the strength of God's grace. the fellowship of His sufferings and the power of His resurrection life being made conformable to His death / Phil 3:10. We may not understand all that but God has a plan and a work in us that he is performing so that we can experience what God has made us to be. The same preacher closed with this statement, 'God is making us become what He has already made us to be'. Paul said for me to live is Christ and to die is gain / Phil 1:21 and I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me ... and I do not frustrate the grace of God / Gal 2:20,21.
We often mistake weakness for sin even though weakness can lead to sin, but God's greatest asset in us is our weakness. God's plan is to reduce us to nothing. John the baptist said it this way, I must decrease and He must increase / John 3:30. Think of how hard that is for someone who thinks themselves to be something when in reality they are nothing before God. A preacher, many moons ago, gave this equation when speaking on this subject; GOD + 0 = GOD. The problem that God has in revealing Himself to man is you and me. So God has to reduce us to a big fat ZERO (0) and God uses our weakness, through the cross, to do just that.
Don't let this come as a surprise but God may have to let us miserable fail over and over to reduce us. The problem that we have is that we don't want to be reduced but God can not make His strength perfect in our weakness without reducing us. He reduces us so that we can receive grace and as we receive grace He increases in us. Isn't that what we really want, for God to reveal His Son in us and through us to others by grace? But for some reason we think we have a better way for that to happen. God gave Paul a thorn in his flesh (a demon to buffet him) so that he would not exalt himself above measure. Even though Paul prayed three time for that thorn to depart from him, God would not remove it and told Paul that His grace was sufficient and that His strength is made perfect in weakness / 2Cor 12:7-9.
We are all weak vessels and that is exactly the way God wants it. In weakness we have to trust Him, depend upon Him and humble ourselves before Him. In weakness we get to know the strength of God's grace. the fellowship of His sufferings and the power of His resurrection life being made conformable to His death / Phil 3:10. We may not understand all that but God has a plan and a work in us that he is performing so that we can experience what God has made us to be. The same preacher closed with this statement, 'God is making us become what He has already made us to be'. Paul said for me to live is Christ and to die is gain / Phil 1:21 and I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me ... and I do not frustrate the grace of God / Gal 2:20,21.