My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. 2 Corinthians 12:9
When author and evangelist Becky Pippert lived in Ireland, she longed to share the good news of Jesus with Heather, who’d done her nails for two years. But Heather hadn’t seemed remotely interested. Feeling unable to start a conversation, Becky prayed before her appointment.
While Heather worked on her nails, Becky flipped through an old magazine and paused at a picture of one of the models. When Heather asked why she was so riveted, Becky told her the photograph was of a close friend who’d years before been a Vogue cover model. Becky shared some of her friend’s story of coming to faith in God, which Heather listened to with rapt attention.
Becky left for a trip, and later when she returned to Ireland, she learned that Heather had moved to a new location. Becky reflected, “I had asked God to provide an opportunity to share the gospel, and He did!”
Becky looked to God for help in her weakness, inspired by the apostle Paul. When Paul was weak and pleaded with God to remove the thorn in his flesh, the Lord said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Corinthians 12:9). Paul had learned to rely on God in all things—the big and the small.
When we depend on God to help us love those around us, we too will find opportunities to share our faith authentically.
When has God helped you to share your faith with someone? How could you pray for someone today whom you wish would come to know God?
Loving Jesus, You work through my weaknesses to bring glory to Your Father. Move in my life today, that I might share Your good news of grace.
INSIGHT
Responding to false teachers who said he wasn’t a genuine apostle because he didn’t have ecstatic spiritual experiences, Paul deliberately boasted about the many visions he had (2 Corinthians 12:1–4; see Acts 9:1–9; 16:6–10). Paul considered such boasting utterly distasteful (2 Corinthians 12:1, 6) but necessary to appropriately respond to his critics’ misguided spirituality and pride. Paul preferred to boast about his weaknesses (v. 5), speaking of “a thorn in [his] flesh” (v. 7). The word thorn was used for anything pointed such as a stake, the sharp end of a fishhook, or a splinter. The implication is that Paul endured physical pain. Some think he may have had an eye affliction (Galatians 4:14–15; 6:11), a weakness resulting from his being blinded on the road to Damascus (Acts 9:9), or a chronic ailment like migraine headaches or epilepsy. While we don’t know what the thorn was, its purpose was to keep Paul humble (2 Corinthians 12:7).