Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. 2 Cor. 12:9 (NLT)
We ourselves are like fragile clay jars containing this great treasure. This makes it clear that our great power is from God, not from ourselves. 2 Cor. 4:7 (NLT)
Dear heavenly Father, I wish I didn’t have to keep learning this same lesson over and over and over: Your grace is all I need and Christ’s power is most fully released through my weakness. This way of life is both counterintuitive and paradoxical, and, at the same time, both freeing and wonderful.
Oh to be done with the quest for competency and control, self-sufficiency and self-anything. I know that Day is coming, Father, but well before the second coming of Jesus, free me to boast in, not bemoan about, my weaknesses. Grant me grace to accept my limitations and quirks, my body pains and my heart wounds.
Though I’d rather be a swaggering vessel of togetherness and impressiveness, help me delight in being a fragile jar of clay—releasing the aroma of grace and the wonders of your love. Free me from comparing myself to anybody, by keeping me smitten with the beauty of Jesus and the excellency of knowing him. Indeed, may Jesus increasingly become my treasure, the gospel my delight, and grace my sufficiency.
Father, free me to live today at rest in your love and at home in my brokenness—given over to the needs of neighbors. Thank you for your endless patience, inexhaustible forbearance, and your great delight in us, your children. May your love be the most compelling and transforming influence in my life today. So very Amen I pray, in Jesus’ merciful and mighty name.
