God ‘s vulnerability empowers us

Hennie Symington

Three times I prayed to the Lord about this and asked him to take it away. But his answer was: “My grace is all you need, for my power is greatest when you are weak.” I am most happy, then, to be proud of my weaknesses, in order to feel the protection of Christ's power over me. I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and difficulties for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong. 2 Corinthians 12:8-10

God’s vulnerability resides in the power of his love. Jesus’ life on earth demonstrates God’s very nature. Through God's revealed love we get to know a God who is ready to sacrifice himself and suffer for us. Through Christ's crucifixion, he experiences the ultimate vulnerability.

How does this influence the way we share ourselves with others, our neighbours, strangers, the needy and also with God himself? Be warned! Self-protection isn't Jesus' way of leading. He said, "The first shall be last and the last first."

We are therefore called to allow ourselves to be vulnerable in the world. Being human, we are not comfortable with being vulnerable. It exposes us to humiliation, hurt and even rejection while we are conditioned to do everything in our power to avoid getting hurt: we guard ourselves in our private and public lives and don’t like to expose ourselves. We fear rejection and being judged. Yet vulnerability brings us closer to our fellowman. It’s when we are at our most vulnerable that we are most like Jesus. When we are at our weakest, we are at our strongest. In essence: it means, by showing weakness, you allow God to take care of protecting you.

Prayer: Thank you Lord for never giving up on us when we are so rooted in our earthly existence that we forget that we’ve been placed here to reveal a bit of heaven to those who have forgotten what is means to be loved, respected and cared for.