The God of Weakness

“My grace is sufficient for you for my power is perfected in weakness”  2 Corinthians 12:9 The God of Weakness – John Timmer’s work, The God of Weakness, is one of those small books that changes everything.  “God’s power is at work in our weakness and our dying rather than in our strength and our…

Weakness

“My grace is sufficient for you for my power is perfected in weakness”  2 Corinthians 12:9 Weakness – My God is the God of the sick.  “I don’t feel so good,” said my daughter.  She had the flu.  Her body struggled to maintain health against the virus that wanted to disrupt normal systems.  That’s a…

Is perfected

“My grace is sufficient for you for my power is perfected in weakness”  2 Corinthians 12:9 Is perfected – God never does anything without a purpose.  He is not the author of random acts of kindness.  He has a goal in mind.  That is exactly what He means with this word (teleioutai):  to reach the…

Power

“My grace is sufficient for you for my power is perfected in weakness”  2 Corinthians 12:9 Power – Are you interested in your ability or in God’s ability?  That’s the thought here.  God tells Paul that He is able; that He is capable.  The word Paul chooses is the root of our English word dynamic…

Grace

“My grace is sufficient for you for my power is perfected in weakness”  2 Corinthians 12:9 Grace – Why would we ever think that grace is enough?  Don’t we still have to pay the bills, feed the kids, mow the lawn, go to work and do all the million and one things that make up…

Sufficient

“My grace is sufficient for you for my power is perfected in weakness”  2 Corinthians 12:9 Sufficient – We start a new year with insufficiencies.  There are undoubtedly many things on your “needs” list.  Rest.  Resources.  Money.  Motivation (for all those New Year’s resolutions).  Love.  Liberty.  Paul faced an insufficiency too.  Something that was very…

Kiss of love

“Greet one another with a kiss of love”  1 Peter 5:14 Kiss of love – At the end of my life, I want to be known for the kisses I left behind.  I want people to miss my affection and my care for them.  I want to be thought of as someone who left a…

Expose

“Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them;”  Ephesians 5:11 Expose – So you did a little soul searching?  You looked hard at what pulls your strings.  You decided to cut some ties to the fellowship of the dark.  Paul is cheering.  But this is only the first step. …

Participate

“Do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them;”  Ephesians 5:11 Participate – I participate in a lot of different things.  I am in a Frequent Flyer club.  I am a member of my Home Owners Association.  I have an account with Citibank.  But this is not the kind of…

Hope of profit

“But when her masters saw that their hope of profit was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the authorities”  Acts 16:19 Hope of profit – Nobody cared until it was a question of money.  How much are we like the masters of this slave woman?  We don’t pay…