“My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” This is God’s response to Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9. Three times Paul asked for his thorn in the flesh to be taken from him. God left the thorn in the flesh.
As I get older I increasingly realize that God remains honored by our faithfulness in our many Callings, even in the midst of weakness. Perhaps, especially in weakness.
When things are going well some people find service easy. When things are hard, some people want to throw in the towel. True faith may be perplexed, but true faith stays the course.
I have a colleague, a decade younger than I am, who has a recurrence of stage III multiple myeloma. Every Sunday he pulls himself together, travels an hour, and preaches at a small town church as their guest pastor. Most of the time he finds this energizing. My colleague says his service in leading worship, preaching, and teaching give him a reason to get up on Sunday.
I stand in awe of him, even with my own several problems. In the same way, I am in awe of mothers and fathers whose health is failing, who pull themselves together, to live out their Callings as parents in the service of their children; they serve the Lord in serving their children.
Those who throw themselves into the Lord’s service, in the service of others, whether in home or in many forms of God honoring work, do this because they are driven by great love for what they do and for the people with whom they interact. They serve because they are driven by a desire to serve. They want to serve.
As we get older, we often struggle with different health conditions. In the midst of those times we remember that God’s grace is sufficient for us. God’s power is seen amidst our weakness. We serve the one who understands pain and difficulty, for Jesus went to the cross for us all. He also gives us hope that our work matters. After all, Jesus is risen and our service is to those who through Christ will live forever. In the midst of our weakness, the power of God is seen. The power of God is seen as service to Him, through serving others, accomplishes His purposes. This was true for Paul.
This remains true for us.
(Editor’s Note: This column is written by a different Littlefield pastor for the Leader-News each week. The columns are published on this page on Wednesdays.)