Seeing Weakness

Day 256: 2 Corinthians 13:1-13

“Since you seek proof that Christ is speaking in me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you. For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God.” - 2 Corinthians 13:3-4 ESV

Colin Kruse, commenting on these verses, says this about Paul: "He had learnt that the power of Christ rested upon the weak, not the impressive."

What do you notice as you walk into a church service? Do you see bland pieces of bread and room-temperature cups of juice? Do you hear songs sung that could use some auto-tuning? Do you hear a sermon that could use more dynamics or fewer UHs and UMs? Do you see cobwebs or updates that need to take place in the building? Do you see people with flaws that flood the seats? Everywhere we look, we see weakness.

Yet underneath all of this weakness is intense power with which no darkness can cope. God is up to something.

Resurrection power, we realize, can always be dismissed by obvious weakness. Yet we know what is really happening. Jesus is still doing the miraculous work of transforming lives!

One of the things I love about Paul's language as he ends this letter is that he closes with the hope of his third visit. He loves these people in Corinth. Even though they were a headache sometimes, he was still confident that "Jesus Christ lived in them." The same is true of us today.