Iron Sharpens Iron, Men Strengthen Men

My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness… 2 Corinthians 12:9

These are Christs words to Paul as he wrestled with his “thorn in the flesh” which many scholars believe was bad eyesight. Even though Paul pleaded with God 3 times to remove this deficiency from him, God refused which is when we see Jesus make reference to the verse above…

I think we can say that the “weakness” Christ refers to here are the low points or the difficult times we experience along life’s path. I hope this isn’t a surprise to you but accepting Christ into your life doesn’t negate hardships. In fact, I believe we are presented with more challenges or “grace opportunities” as Christians simply because God wants us to learn to trust Him during the times we need him the most. I don’t know about you, but I have a tough time with trust sometimes. How do you handle adversity when its thrown your way? You see I am one of those people who have written about and believe that our Lords desire is to surround himself in heaven with people who understand and practice God’s power being made perfect in my weakness. In other words I believe, God, wants to hang out with the folks who stood toe to toe against Satan during life’s battle and said, “Is that all you got?” Frankly, I have to admit, so do I…

But back to business; if you recall, the first part of this same verse talks about Gods grace being sufficient; Sometimes I have struggled to understand what grace really was to me? Is it a “get out of jail free card?” Or is it just a friend helping me back up when I fall? Then I read recently an easier way to think of grace. Grace is truly the “presence of God” in our lives. Try substituting “presence of God” next time you read grace and you will see what I mean. Grace is God’s physical strength from heaven given to you and me when we call on Him. I like that a lot. When I call on him, you can bet I am wrestling with something and need His help. Isn’t it encouraging that in our weakest points ever, God’s strength is made perfect in us? He is there! We are NOT alone. His grace, or His presence, is there to see us through the difficult path.

I truly hope you can be encouraged by these words. Those verses have changed my own life forever.

I pray for God’s grace in your life, each and every day…