The Thing About Weakness

I’ve been called weak for many things. For having issues with trauma. For crying. For being a vegetarian. For having chronic illnesses. For lots and lots of things. And for some reason, being “weak” was oftentimes used synonymously with being “weak in faith” or not a good, and at times not even a true, follower of God.

After a while of hearing something it becomes easier to start to believe it, and this was something that eventually hit me straight to the heart. I started to believe that I was synonymous with less than. That I was less than because I was chronically ill. That I was less than the people who hadn’t gone through serious traumas. That I was less than because I’ve always had such a sensitive conscience. That I was less than because I was me.

But the thing about weakness is that God seems to have an entirely different opinion about it than we do.

So often we’re taught that God’s power is strongest in the people who look the strongest on the outside. I’ve been taught that people who don’t cry are more strongly rooted in God’s peace. That people who don’t struggle with trauma are stronger in faith. That people who eat meat understand the gospel better than those who don’t. I’ve heard all these judgments and so many others, and for a long time I believed that if so many people were saying them then they must be true.

But on a closer study of all that the Bible truly teaches on the subject of weakness, I’ve seen a different message jumping out of the pages as clear as day…

I’ve seen that the word “weak” was most often used in the new testament to refer to physical weaknesses such as illnesses, or to sensitivity of conscience…not to spiritual weakness.

I’ve seen that God’s power isn’t perfected in those who are strong, but in those who are weak.

I’ve seen that God uses the weak to lead the strong.

And I’ve seen that children, the stereotypical “weakest” of all people, are the ones that Jesus said we have to become like in order to ever truly know God or see his kingdom.

So these days I am okay with being weak. I know the path that God has created me to live isn’t anyone else’s path but my own, so of course it isn’t always going to be accepted by or even make sense to other people, and that is okay.

What matters is that I am true to the gifts and the conscience and the Spirit and the heart that God has given me…and if that looks like weakness? Well, then I choose to be weak. Because the thing about weakness is that it’s so much more beautiful than we’ve made it out to be 💛

Yours Truly,
~Cassia Dee

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[Blogging Through The Bible Challenge: 1 Corinthians]