Strength in Weakness
“My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness.”
(II Corinthians 12:9)
‘Life is difficult,’ M. Scott Peck writes in The Road Less Traveled. Yet people complain as though life should be easy. ‘Once we truly know that life is difficult – once we truly understand and accept it – then life is no longer difficult.’
Here are three truths from Scripture about the nature of earthly life.
First, St. Paul teaches us that sin, evil, and death are real powers. We can’t merely write off violence, hatred, and war as ‘social problems’ correctable simply by education or improved conditions. The heart of human beings is a battleground between real spiritual enemies, and we must arm ourselves to battle them.
Secondly, despite appearances to the contrary, God is intimately involved in the events of this world, and we need to live as though we really believe this. Through faith supported by prayer, we can learn to accept that, despite human wickedness and folly, the world is ultimately in the hands of a good and powerful God.
Finally, we must see that victory over suffering comes not through strength but what the world calls weakness – acceptance, humility, and self-denial.
God’s strength is made perfect through our weakness.
We overcome suffering through the virtues of humility and self-surrender, which frees us from anger and resentment.
Weakness is not the lack of courage, or resources, or will. Rather, weakness is the spiritual force by which acceptance and self-surrender is cultivated, endurance is strengthened, and we are filled with the light of Christ, like stained glass windows radiant with the beauty of many colors!