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If you are anything like me, when you read of all that the apostle Paul went through - the lashings, the beatings, the imprisonments, shipwrecks, hunger, dangers - it is hard not to think of him as some super-apostle. 


But that is exactly what Paul feared would happen. 

In the ways of the world, favour is bestowed upon people who achieve great things. However, human achievement does not earn you one iota of favour with God.

This is the essence of the gospel that was begin trampled upon by the so called super-apostles (mentioned in 2 Corinthians 11:5). These were the men that had come in after Paul and his team had preached the true gospel in Corinth and began to preach a different gospel (a gospel based on human achievement; 2 Corinthians 11:4). They flaunted their accolades and achievements, while deceiving many into buying into the worldly idea that human-achievement earns you favour with God.

But Paul knew better. He knew better than just about anybody that what showcases the glory of God was not his achievements, but his weakness/helplessness. 

This is the man who said toward the end of his run, “I am the greatest of Sinners (1 Tim. 1:15). This is the man who said that apart from Jesus Christ, all my achievements are “rubbish” (Phillipians 3:8-9). 

Paul also knew that he worked harder than everybody (including the fellow apostles), but he also knew that it was not him, but the grace of God that was so powerfully at work within him (1 Corinthians 15:10).

This is why Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 12:9 - “My grace is sufficient for you, for my (that is God’s) power is made perfect in weakness. 

 

In weakness.

 

This is not a Bible verse that is meant to be used to help believers feel “empowered”. The power is God’s. The weakness is ours. And this is important to understand because apart from being in a place of weakness, we will be competing with Jesus for the spotlight. 

In the coming year, let us spend less effort focusing on what we will achieve; rather, let us spend time becoming well acquainted with the weaknesses that God has given to us. They are a precious gift and one of the main means by which God will showcase His glory in your life. Through weaknesses, not achievements.