day 273: Delighting In Weakness?

While I am on vacation, I have asked friends, and encouragers of Purposed worKING to contribute. Today's post comes from Hank Stringer. Hank is a dear friend, an experienced executive recruiter, technology entrepreneur and author, including the co-authoring of our book, Talent Force.


2 Corinthians 12:7-10 (New International Version) says: "To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 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. 10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

At work we have our strengths and our weaknesses. We have good times and we have difficult times. There are some things we do well and others we don’t. We’ve all experienced the fear of being asked to do something we know we don’t do well, either because we lack the experience or we just have not been blessed with the abilities to accomplish the task at hand. Think of asking the executive to fix the plumbing or the janitor to build the spreadsheets for a new business model…are these weaknesses, examples of the difficulties we sometimes face?

If we react to them as a weakness, if we are embarrassed or hide from our inabilities then yes, by not admitting or addressing them we will not improve in fact we procrastinate and worry which can affect other aspects of our lives. Is this a formula for balanced living and work? No, there is a better way.

God has this figured out. In 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 he tells us to delight in our weaknesses, difficulties, persecutions and insults. The formula for doing this with ease is easy know that through God’s perfect grace, the gift of His Son who died for our sins and rose again He provides the greatest strength – eternal relationship with Him. Accept your weakness and difficulty as a reminder of His perfect strength.

Reference: 2 Corinthians 12:7-10 (New International Version)