One of the ways Christianity differs from the ways of the world around us is that Christians experience power through weakness. The world tells us to empower ourselves. It tells us that we must succeed by working harder. It tells us that we must find strength to achieve, to advance ourselves, to push our agenda and get respect. The Bible, however, tells us just the opposite; it says that we are strongest when we are weak. Today’s passage can help us find the grace we need for living and experiencing God's Presence. Let’s listen this passage from 2 Corinthians.

In order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 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. (2 Cor. 12:7b-10)

This passage immediately follows Paul’s recounting of how 14-years earlier, he had been “caught up to the third heaven” where God gave him powerful and special revelations. He writes that he now must contend with a "thorn in the flesh" — some kind of physical problem or ailment, that would keep him from being conceited. The thorn was wielded by Satan but God is the One who sent it. Here's an important principle: God owns the thorns. Paul learned that the secret of spiritual power is weakness. At the end of the passage, Paul writes, "I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." Paul seems to delight in everything that works against his own success!

Today, take time to consider your own life, areas in which you are trying to get ahead by your own strength but are struggling. Does God have something to teach you in the midst of your problems? Take courage—you and I can find power in weakness...and that is very Good News!