In recent years, there has been a flood of opinions concerning mental illness and various life struggles. Our generation has opened the door to transparency, but has it also opened a door for weakness? There have been many posts about this generation and how we have no sense of what it means to be strong, going on to say that we have been coddled all of our lives. This may be true, but I think that it can also be said that other generations do not allow themselves to see weakness. As Christians, we should be concerned with finding the middle ground between the extremes.
I have struggled with depression all of my life and various struggles and I feel weak. I feel like if I speak out no one would hear me but instead reprimand me. I feel like I am weak but I know, I am not and that is why I am a raw person, so that people may see Christ. Even as I write this post, I tremble at what people will think. In the end, what is the purpose of sharing these struggles and do I need to keep it hidden from the world?
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When being a Christian, there is pressure to get your life right and lined up with the Bible but many times we are told to “keep it under wraps” or to conceal it from others. Why? Many people believe that if they can hide their flaws and their current struggles they would be seen as “more of a Christian” and I would argue that many churches do not have a “safe culture,” which is simply an environment of grace which allows an individual to grow and deal with their sins. So we put up fronts and wear masks and place a false identity on ourselves. This is not an opportunity for universalism to enter the church, having no structure and no doctrine but a call for “working out salvation”. We are all sinners saved by grace but instead of realizing that we still deal with sin and we still need grace, we stop our thinking with knowing that we are saved. Great! You know Jesus and you go to church but how are you dealing with life after the realization of the cross? Did you buy a necklace and decided that you would go to church as much as you can and that you would check all the boxes on your checklist? As we mature in Christ, we should ever be realizing that we are sinners and that we need grace. Paul is the greatest example of this statement. He continued to work out his salvation and admit to his sins over and over and yet we still hold him up on a pedestal. Why? Because he boasted in his weakness? Nope, it because he wrote something in the Bible and he is a “saint” in the Catholic Church and he has a great conversion story. People, Paul was a sinner and the lowest of the lowest and he boasted in his weakness.
When Paul was writing to the Corinthians for the second time he discussed this struggle of having a thorn in his side (a temptation). Before chapter 12, at the end of 11, Paul says that he shall boast in his weakness! Not for himself but for Christ, he continues by saying that he pleaded with God to take out his thorn and this is what Christ answered:
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (v. 9)
This short answer brought a response from Paul that we should all take note of:
Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong (v. 10).
Paul’s conclusion is this: Christ said his grace is sufficient and his power will surge through me in my weakness so I will boast of this phenomena and of the places that have caused harm to me because ultimately my life is for Christ, it is not my own.
How do we apply this? I believe that we need to humble ourselves before the Lord and realize that the fronts that we are putting up, the masks that we are putting on, the false identity that we are portraying is the opposite of how we should be living. Our lives are for Christ and for the sake of Christ we should show the moments that are our darkest, so that Christ’s power may rest on us and that others would see him! I believe that Paul was bold in this and that in the end, he did not care who said what about him but cared deeply for people to come to know the man that died, Christ. Therefore, we must die to ourselves and our fronts, our masks and our false identities and put on Christ and the power of Christ as we BOAST in our weakness, for the glory of God.
So I will BOAST! I have fallen into depression and he took me out! I have fallen into sins and have abused grace. I have done wrong to others, I have lied, I have cheated, I have cursed, I have had ungodly relationships, I have done things too excessively and I have self-mutilated, taking on the fact that I hate where I am and if fight some of these things still. May his power rest upon me. May his glory be seen. May his redemption be known. May grace abound. I am forgiven and I press on for what Christ has called me heavenward and may my story be known so that Christ would be known. Church may we become weak so we may be strong.
What’s your story?
