“But he said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’” This statement, written by the Apostle Paul in his second letter to the Corinthians, might as well have been written to many of us during various times in our lives. How often are we confronted with our weaknesses or our failings in our daily walk in life? How frequently does the specter of transgressions or the haunting of mistakes float into the thought process of our brains as a reminder of our frailty and propensity to fall, consume us to the point of immobility? Am I striking a chord with anyone this morning?
This is not entirely a byproduct of our humanness alone; the truth is that people will remember our failings for much longer than our triumphs. This is not wholly without merit or reasons, nor is it simply the sole act of those who wish to put others down. Our failures carry consequences and have a farreaching impact, so I don’t think it is beyond reason to glean and learn from those failings. However, and this is a significant caveat, there are times when we allow our mishaps or missteps to consume us to the point of immobility. Or worse, we find ourselves surrounded by people who will point out our flaws with greater frequency or in the complete absence of our gifts. That’s a fancy way of saying that sometimes we are surrounded by negative people who will always put us down because they themselves wish to only focus on weaknesses and failures. By doing so, they somehow feel better about themselves or can avoid the focus on their own transgressions. When it comes to these people, it is best to simply file their observations in a file marked “read with care.” Meaning that you should try to glean the truth from their points, while at the same time recognizing the source and distancing oneself from complete negativity. An excellent method is to pray to God and ask Him, “Lord, what do YOU want me to learn from this experience?” “What corrections do YOU want me to make?” “What road do you want me to head down?” In this way, it is not mere human voices that guide or influence us; rather, it is the Holy Spirit that interprets that guidance into a far more perfect direction.
Now, the other danger lies in the trap of rejecting all forms of criticism or correction because they may damage your ego. We, as human beings, must be willing to accept our weaknesses and learn from them, grow from them, because in those moments, it is God glorified through the good that comes from them, especially if they come from a place or persons who love us and want to see us reach past our imperfections and step out in faith. Those types of people God puts in our lives that we may be provoked into moving in the direction of sanctification, without becoming mired in the failure of the past. We can retreat into a shell of self-woe or selfglorification that silences any forms of correction from the outside world, and at the same time, silences any correction that could come from Christ. Some of us do this as a form of self-preservation. We don’t want to deal with some flaws because we feel we already have too much on our plates, or that we don’t want to risk failure again. I have a hard time taking risks as a pastor because I am aware of my own failings and fear letting others down, or worse, letting God down. But as Paul so astutely put it, even through our efforts of weakness, God is glorified all the more.
