Thursday, November 20, 2008

The gift of spiritual handicaps

Have you ever had something in your life that you felt like God should free you from, because it's just causing you pain and frustration? I have. Reading Paul's words in 2 Corinthians 12 brings comfort that God is ultimately loving me when he gives me these "thorns in the flesh," because I have to look outside my self and depend on Him. This comes from the Message:
"...I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations. Satan's angel did his best to get me down; what he in fact did was push me to my knees. No danger then of walking around high and mighty! At first I didn't think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me,

'My grace is enough; it's all you need.
My strength comes into its own in your weakness.'

Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ's strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become. "

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