Is it possible to be strong in your weakness? Yes!

Are you as surprised as I am that the holidays are now upon us? While there is much merry making in this season, there is also an incredible amount of stress, anxiety, dread, and suffering as well. Our busyness kicks into overdrive with extra holiday gatherings and obligations, and many are dreading those very gatherings because they can be a source of pain. Additionally, for some, these will be the first holidays after a loved one has passed away. Holidays can be a challenging time, and it is helpful to be aware of that, especially if you are given the opportunity to lighten someone else’s burden in some small way this season.

What I’d like to talk about this time is weakness. One of the reasons we dislike suffering as much as we do is because it is so antithetical to what we want: It is painful, and we do not like pain. It can be the result of the loss of things or people that we want. It can reveal things about us we wish were untrue. One of these things is that we are weaker than we thought we were, either physically, mentally, or emotionally. Let’s face it, we do not want to be weak. Weakness is not touted: strength is. One is described as weak only in terms of lament or regret. Think of telling a parent their baby is weak versus telling them their baby is strong: the former is said in a sad tone, while the latter is exclaimed happily.

The reason I’m bringing this up is because weakness, like suffering, cannot be avoided and weakness, like suffering, might be better if it were leaned into rather than fled from. This is entirely counterintuitive to what we, particularly Americans, naturally think. Weakness is to be avoided whether weakness in fact or weakness in appearance. I would like to offer some reasons why we might want to change our thinking on this, though.

First, and briefly, if a particular weakness is unavoidable, then devoting energy to escaping or hiding it will only exacerbate the problem, taking energy which is already in short supply. Second, one of the ways to lean into weakness is to reach out to others in our community, whether that is friends, family, or others in our network, and ask for help. Leaning on others who have strength in an area you lack can benefit both you and them: it can strengthen your relationship with them, it can help you to grow in gratitude, and they can feel good about being helpful. Furthermore, it is modeling to others a better, healthier way to respond to weakness in community than we, in our “rugged individualism” often do.

There’s an additional stance toward weakness found in the Christian worldview. The New Testament is known for its teachings on love, humility, grace, kindness, etc., but it is also rife with acknowledgements of and teachings on suffering. Weakness often goes hand in hand with suffering. The apostle Paul, for example, says in his second letter to the church in Corinth that he takes “delight” in his weakness for, when he is weak, then he is strong. Huh?

Here’s the context. He tells the Corinthians that he received a “thorn in the flesh.” While we do not know what this thorn was, we know that it was so terrible that he “pleaded with” or “begged” God three times to take it away from him, but God would not. God told him that his grace “is sufficient” for Paul and that his power is “made perfect” or “comes to full strength” in weakness. What are we to make of this?

First, what does it mean to be “made perfect” in this context? Translated from Greek into English, the word “perfect” is from the Greek word “telos,” which has in view a goal or end. So, in this case, God’s power being “made perfect” means it has completed its goal—not that it was previously imperfect and is now “made” perfect in some way. What is the goal of God’s power? I do not have space to address it in depth here, so I’ll just state briefly that his goal is to transform us into being increasingly like Jesus (see 1 Cor. 13:4-8 and Gal. 5:22).

Returning to weakness, Paul’s thorn in the flesh made him weak, and he didn’t like it. God wouldn’t take it away because his power will complete its goal through weakness. Interesting. That is where Paul goes on to say that, therefore, he “delights” in his weaknesses—and his hardships, insults, and calamities: for when he is weak, then he is strong. In other words, God’s power works through—comes to full strength in—a weak vessel—and achieves its goal through that weak vessel.

So, Paul’s weakness was inescapable, God moved in power through his weakness and, because of that, Paul now “delights” in weaknesses, hardships, insults, and calamities. What if we did the same for the same reason? We, frequently, experience inescapable weakness, perhaps from illness, emotional hardships, or cognitive difficulties. What if, instead of frantically trying to escape our weakness like an animal caught in a trap we welcomed the weakness—practiced in our weakness—and trusted God that his power would be made perfect in / come to full strength in our weakness?

If we are weak anyway, why not lean into it, trusting God? Why not revel in the reality of our weakness? Delight in it, trusting God when he says his power comes to full strength in those circumstances? I suspect that we have little to no experience with this, since we are so focused on escaping from or hiding our weakness. Paul had experience with temporary weakness when he was flogged, beaten, imprisoned, etc., although his relationship with God was such that he considered them “light and momentary afflictions.” So, I wonder if, given how God’s power worked through him repeatedly in the past when he wasn’t in weakness (see Acts), then if God told him his power would be made perfect in Paul’s weakness, Paul was all in!

We, unfortunately, don’t have Paul’s experiences with God, but if God is the same yesterday, today, and forever, there is no reason to think that God’s power will not come to full strength in our weakness as it did for Paul. Quite the contrary. The encouragement I would like to offer you here is that, given the fact that we are all weak sometime, lean into it and trust God to supply his strength in your weakness. This takes intentionality to choose to do it. It also takes community to help us have courage in the face of fearing what might happen in our weakness. I would love to hear any experiences you have with this, should you choose to practice with this.