His Grace is Sufficient for Me

But He said to me, “My grace is enough for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” So then, I will boast most gladly about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may reside in me." (2 Cor 12:9, NET). The world tells us that we have to be the strongest, fastest, smartest, best looking, healthiest, and riches to be successful, to have meaning in this life. But God's world give us the opposite picture. In this passage Paul tells us that the mighty grace of Jesus Christ our Lord is so powerful, that we don't have to be any of those things to matter. God loves us, and His grace makes it ok that we are weak and fleshly. Now that does not mean that sin is acceptable; Paul makes this clear in Romans 6:1 & 2, "What shall we say then? Are we to remain in sin so that grace may increase? Absolutely not! How can we who died to sin still live in it?" (NKJV). It does mean that God loves us even when we fall and fall and fall. This is not a new idea for most Christians, but when that is exactly where we are in our walk with God, we are edified when the Holy Spirit reminds us of the unfathomable love of Jesus. "And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is." (Ephesians 3:18, NLT). And a true understanding of Christ's love will create in us a response to obey Him. But every bit of it is Jesus, we get no credit: Jesus gives us the love and grace we need in our weakness, and then it is His power that makes us able to respond in thankful obedience. Never do we have the power ourselves. But as Paul says, that is a glorious truth that we should be proud of: we are weak, but Christ is strong!