It’s humbling to be at the end of our rope and still come up short – to give our all and it’s still not enough. This should not be a point of despair. But it does require us to rely on a greater strength beyond ourselves. It remains true that Christ’s power works best in weakness.
Without a doubt we were created to reflect God’s strength. And he has given us the dignity of causation – the ability to make things happen and to come through on behalf of others.
And perhaps all to often we live as victims to our circumstances rather than embracing the power God has given us. To be sure, we’re not living by faith when we don’t do the things that are ours to do.
At the same time, God remains the hero of his story and he must often humble our pride. When we think we can do it on our own he reminds us we’re empowered by his strength alone.
And our times of undeniable weakness help to serve this purpose.
It’s easy to forget God when things are going well and we feel very capable in bringing about the desires of our heart.
But we’re forced to anchor our hope in someone greater when we’ve done all we can do and it’s still not enough.
At first, we likely resist and redouble our efforts to do it on our own. But we discover a renewed and deeper strength when we come to the end of ourselves and still practice the truth that Christ’s grace is sufficient.
And, in time, we readily accept our limitations because it highlights the power of God at work through us.
Our pride eventually takes us out when we don’t learn to rely on God’s strength throughout our life and relationships.
Faithfully accomplish all God has given you to do. And let your weaknesses bring you back to relying on God’s strength time and again.
Photo by Volodymyr Hryshchenko on Unsplash
