"But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me." -2 Corinthians 12:9
According to dictionary.com, graceful means, "characterized by elegance or beauty of form, manner, movement, or speech." Woah! I am not that! I know we are all probably thinking that exact same thing. But, here's the thing, if we are saved, WE ARE GOD'S CHILDREN!
Do you know what that means? We aren't supposed to be graceful! But, we are FULL OF GRACE!
Being full of grace is so much different than being graceful. Do you know what that means? It means it's okay to not be graceful! Things it's okay to do when we are full of grace: SCREW UP, FAIL, LOSE, FALL, TRIP, STUMBLE, ETC. And, do you want to know why? As Tenth Avenue North put it in their "Overflow Devotional," "In Christ, we are free to fail, we're free to screw up. Because when we do, we fall into an ocean of grace." Screwing up, failing, and all those other things I mentioned above are okay! They really are, because, if we are children of God, we have arms to fall into, we have a shoulder to cry on, WE HAVE GRACE!
As 2 Corinthians 12:9, states God's grace is sufficient for us! And, it goes even beyond that! HIS POWER IS MADE PERFECT IN OUR WEAKNESSES! When we do fall, stumble, screw up, fail, God catches us then uses us! He doesn't let our struggles be in vain. HE USES THEM! He uses the times we fail to say my child is okay because I am more powerful than any of their circumstances! HOW GREAT IS THAT?!
But, you know, the Bible does not stop after that verse. The next verse says, "That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in my weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Corinthians 12:10). So, what do we do with our screw ups and failures? Do we stick them in a box and try to ignore them until they no longer haunt us? No, WE BOAST IN THEM! We say, "Here is everything I have been through and this is how God used me!"
Too often, we get caught up in this ideal that we should not fail! We think we have to be perfect because we are Christians. We think we need to be an example to the world, and we do! But, maybe we're setting the wrong example. We probably think that we need to be completely perfect, or at least appear to be. BUT WE DON'T! These two verses prove it! GOD'S POWER IS MADE PERFECT IN WEAKNESS! How will the world know about God's grace, if we don't show them?
So, why don't we boast?! Why don't we go around telling people about our struggles?! Struggling is part of grace. Grace is there so that we can struggle! We are free to fail, free to screw up, free to stumble, etc, because grace is so much bigger than our struggles!
So, here's my challenge to you today: BE HUMAN! Struggle, fail, screw up! Now I'm not saying intentionally fail! But, we are human, so strive to be all that you can be, and when you do fail, BOAST! Let God pick you up! Let Your Father dust you off! And, then BOAST! BECAUSE WE MAY NOT BE GRACEFUL, BUT WE ARE FULL OF GRACE!
