Bring it to the Light

"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. 2 Corinthians 12:9

Do you delight in your failings or your weaknesses?

Probably not. Most of us don't. We tried to hide our weaknesses. But the path toward spiritual growth is a paved with vulnerability. Wherever you are weak, God can impart strength through grace. In Brene Browns book The Power of Vulnerability, she researches how we can experience creativity, joy and purpose when we dare to drop the armor that protects us from feeling vulnerable. Our lives become richer when we are authentic with others about who we are.

It is not just that we hide our feelings and failings from other people, we also attempt to hide them from God. In doing this, we spend a great deal of energy with guilt and shame that could be brought into the transformative light of God's love if we would trust that God is going to forgive us and love us.

The Apostle Paul delighted in the discovery of personal weakness because it was where Gods power could rest on him.

Martin Luther King, Jr also found strength in his place of weakness. As he was preparing to move forward into the work of the civil rights movement, he discovered overwhelming fear. He described it in his autobiography: “It seemed that all my fears had come down on me at once…And I got to the point that I couldn’t take it any longer. I was weak.” King says that “He promised never to leave me alone. At that moment I experienced the presence of the Divine as I had never experienced Him before. Almost at once my fears began to go. My uncertainty disappeared. I was ready to face anything.”

Do not be afraid of your failings, your weaknesses or your places of despair. These are the places where God wants to draw close to you, to meet you with His power.

Like a flame that burns brighter as it consumes the wick, the light of Christ burns in you most brightly when you expose your weaknesses. And those weaknesses and failings become transformed into glorious light.

Prayer suggestion: light a candle during your prayer time today. Ponder the light.