Friday, September 24, 2010

What's so Awful about Weakness?

People come in all shapes, sizes, abilities, strengths, weaknesses, and types of intelligence.

What's the first thing you notice about a businessman who happens to be using crutches? Is his immaculate suit and tie? Is it the smile on his face or the color of his hair (or that he even HAS hair?)

Or is it the crutches?

Okay, I get it that people don't want to be sick, or weak, or in some way "less" than what is considered the norm. Parents don't want that for their children - the teasing, the limitations, and other lessened joys in life. (Lessened compared to what? especially if they've never known anything different?)

Anyway, I heard someone talking about their infant who had a problem with one of his senses - for the sake of argument let's say he needed really thick glasses for the rest of his life. First, is he less of a person because he can't see as well as those who don't need glasses? Second, how will that limit him in any appreciable way? Why then, did this person get all kinds of comments like, "Oh that's awful! God can heal him - let's all agree together in prayer; He can do the impossible!!"

Don't get me wrong; I believe that God can heal anybody if He wants to. I just don't think He necessarily wants to in EVERY case. What if God knows that this young fellow (as happened with my husband) will be in a room one day when a bunch of acid explodes in a chemical reaction? those thick glasses will keep him from going blind!! What if the visual disability keeps him from going into a career where he would most likely be killed before he could accomplish all that God had initially planned for him? Like say, the military? What if God uses this young person's inability to see well to teach someone else a lesson and turn their life around in a way that nothing else could? Some of the most amazing people I've known had significant physical limitations, mental difficulties, or intellectual challenges - which made them all the more amazing for their steadfast faith, their persistent and loyal love for their family and friends, and their passion for the lost.

In fact, the apostle Paul boasted about his weaknesses, about his physical limitations, because he knew that when people looked at him they thought, "What a wimpy little weakling of a man! Bow-legged, near-sighted, waddles when he walks! ... but there's something about him that's so compelling. This God of his must be pretty impressive to make him this passionate..." and we know that hundreds followed Jesus because of Paul's witness. Of those, dozens were healed of all kinds of sicknesses. Yet Paul himself was not. Three times he asked, and finally Jesus told him, "My grace is enough for you; My strength shines even brighter in your weakness."

So what's so awful about it?

No comments:

Post a Comment