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{"id":345,"date":"2024-06-30T12:45:51","date_gmt":"2024-06-30T16:45:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theblessedandthebroken\/?p=345"},"modified":"2024-06-30T12:45:51","modified_gmt":"2024-06-30T16:45:51","slug":"closing-the-circle-gods-power-made-perfect-in-weakness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theblessedandthebroken\/2024\/06\/closing-the-circle-gods-power-made-perfect-in-weakness\/","title":{"rendered":"Closing the Circle: God\u2019s Power Made Perfect in Weakness"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

"Thorns

Thorns hurt, but they also remind us of the power of the Father. Thorns hurt, but they also remind us of the power of the Father. Photo by Hunter Harmon on Pexels.com<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

I can\u2019t sing. That doesn\u2019t mean that I don\u2019t sing. I do. I sing in the car, in the shower, when I\u2019m alone, and when I\u2019m with other people (and apologies to all you victims out there whom I have put through that experience). In fact, on some level, my inability to sing well enough to please the ears of those who might hear me has probably been my own little version of Paul\u2019s \u201cthorn in the flesh.\u201d I have other, more significant, thorns, as well, of course, but not being able to sing has always been a consistently felt need (and, honestly, a relatively safe example to use in this column).<\/p>\n

No one knows what specific issue Paul was referring to, but we do know his prayer to have it removed wasn\u2019t answered in the affirmative. We also know that it was something significant enough that Paul brought it to God three times, pleading for relief. It was a big deal, and it caused this spiritual giant much emotional pain. And yet God left the thorn embedded in his body or spirit\u2014or perhaps both. Why?<\/p>\n

The good news is we don\u2019t have to guess, because Paul himself provides the answer. <\/i>He tells us that God told him, \u201cMy grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.\u201d <\/i>That\u2019s a verse most of us are familiar with, but have we ever taken a moment to contemplate the powerfully deep implications? The idea that God\u2019s power is somehow incomplete without our weakness to act upon is, at the very least, mind-boggling. But that is the undeniable implication of Paul\u2019s statement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What if your weakness is your path to experiencing God more fully? Photo by cottonbro studio: Photo by Cottonbro on Pexels.com.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Upon closer examination, though, it makes a perfectly beautiful and encouraging kind of sense. The word perfect here should actually be understand as complete<\/em>, or whole<\/em>. It implies the closing of a circle. Of what use is power if it has nothing upon which to operate. For that matter, what good is love with no one to experience it? God chose to leave Paul\u2019s thorn in place because it provided an opportunity for God to demonstrate his power by developing and sustaining Paul through, and in spite of, his weakness. And while we might wonder why that matters so much to God, clearly Paul had come to terms with it; his weakness is what connected him to Christ so fully and so completely. As he reminded the church in Philippi (and reminds the church today), everything he accomplished, he did, \u201cthrough Christ who [gave him] strength\u201d (Philippians 4:13<\/a><\/i>).<\/i><\/p>\n

Paul is essentially saying he would rather have his thorn, his weakness, if because of its presence in his life he had more of Christ. As I grow older and grow deeper into my faith, I begin to understand and appreciate more and more this sentiment. It\u2019s not that I won\u2019t continue to try to remove the thorn, especially if it represents a moral or spiritual weakness. It\u2019s also doesn\u2019t mean I won\u2019t despair over the presence of the thorn because it is one of the ways my eyes are turned to Jesus. Whatever success I have in removing my thorns, or overcoming their influence in my life, will forever be due to the strength I find in Christ who gives me strength.<\/p>\n

As you look at your own life, how have you experienced God using your own thorns to demonstrate His power and love in you? Drop a comment below and let us know how God has worked through your weaknesses rather than simply removing them.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, \u201cMy grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.\u201d Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ\u2019s power may rest on me. 2 CORINTHIANS 12:8\u20139 NIV […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5366,"featured_media":348,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[84,81,87,78,75,72],"class_list":["post-345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-god","tag-grace","tag-power","tag-strength","tag-thorns","tag-weakness"],"yoast_head":"\nClosing the Circle: God\u2019s Power Made Perfect in Weakness<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What if our weakness is our path to God?\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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