Saturday June 29, 2024
2 Corinthians 12:9
Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses,
so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.
God’s faithfulness is not proved by the absence of trouble, tension, calamity, disaster, or personal pain. Indeed, His faithfulness is seen most clearly in those times when we question His plan and feel the pain of our circumstances.
Besides Jesus Himself, no one suffered as consistently for God’s sake as did the apostle Paul. In 2 Corinthians 6:3-10 and 11:21-30, he catalogs the varieties of pain and hardship he experienced. God’s faithfulness to Paul was not seen in the avoidance of pain but in the supply of grace needed to endure it. Paul had such a deep understanding of the role of grace in his life that he said he took “pleasure (NKJV)” in what he suffered for Christ’s sake because it resulted in a greater revelation of God’s grace (2 Corinthians 12:10). When we arrive at the place where we glory more in the presence of grace than in the absence of pain, we know we are making strides toward maturity.
If you are in the midst of trouble right now, develop the discipline of finding pleasure in the experience of grace—the greatest indicator of God’s faithfulness.
Nothing whatever in the way of goodness pertaining to godliness
and real holiness can be accomplished without [grace].
AUGUSTINE
FOR THE LOVE OF GOD 