BETHANY BELUE | CONTRIBUTOR

While in my twenties and living in NYC, I was given the opportunity to interview for a leadership position at a large church. I was excited about the opportunity, confident to interview, and hopeful to step into this role—that is, until the second round of interviews began and an older, wiser woman with pointed eyes looked across a table from me and said “What makes you think you have anything to offer this role? You are young, you are single, and you have no children? Do you believe parents will listen to you?” I was stunned, humiliated, and didn’t know how to respond.

The Corinthians’ Misunderstanding of Strength

The book of 2 Corinthians was written because the apostle Paul had the opportunity to minister to a church that was filled with people who were being influenced by false teachers and seeking to live out a gospel that was driven by knowledge and prestige. The church had fallen into a trap that contradicted the gospel of Christ. In doing so, the Corinthians were doubting Paul’s role as an apostle and the truths he was so desperately urging them to believe.

Paul’s Foolishness for the Sake of Christ 

As I looked across the table from this older woman in my interview, I had two choices: boast in my strengths or boast in my weaknesses. The world wants us to boast about our strengths: to boast in what we know, what we can offer, what we have accomplished. Although that is tempting and often offers more credibility, nothing about Jesus’s life and death were based on these things. Philippians 2:1-10 tells us that Jesus made Himself nothing, took the form of a servant and humbled Himself to the point of death on the cross. Paul, in 2 Corinthians, points us to this humility through his own suffering and willingness to be a fool for the sake of Christ.

I repeat, let no one think me foolish, but even if you do, accept me as a fool, so that I too may boast a little (2 Cor. 11:16).  Paul dismantles the Corinthians’ idea of measuring success by prestige, wealth, and knowledge, and instead taught that the Kingdom of God grows through grace. It is through Christ alone that salvation and kingdom advancement occurs.

Paul’s Sufferings for the Sake of Christ 

Paul goes on in chapter 11 to talk about his own beatings and sufferings.

Are they servants of Christ? I am a better one—I am talking like a madman—with far greater labors, far more imprisonments, with countless beatings, and often near death. Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers;  in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?” (2 Cor. 11:23-29).

The false apostles boasted in visible triumph; Paul boasted in the faithfulness of the Lord amid afflictions. All through his writings, he reminds his readers the worth of suffering for Christ. To follow Christ is to experience suffering for His sake.

Paul’s Weakness for the Sake of Christ 

Paul closes chapter 11 with a poignant verse that expresses the heart of the passage: “If I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness” (2 Cor. 11:30). Then he shares a humbling story of escaping the governor under King Aretas by being let down in a basket through a window. It’s a story of humility and human weakness, and yet for the sake of Christ he boasts. He boasts not in his own strength but in his weakness, because when we are weak, Christ is strong (2 Cor. 12:10).

Living Out Gospel-Dependent Weakness

After I picked my jaw off the floor and calmed my shaking body at the interview, I answered with a simply, “I don’t know if I have anything to offer personally, but I believe the Lord has something in me, and His grace and power are made perfect in my weakness.” I left that interview ready to run away, but with the encouragement of the Lord and others, I stayed. I was offered the position, and as I worked at that church, I was continually reminded that I really could do nothing apart from Christ.

Since that interview, I have had many humbling experiences when I thought to myself, “I don’t know that I have anything to offer.” Whatever season of life we are in and wherever the Lord has called us, it is easy to get caught up in our own knowledge and strength. And yet everything we possess is from Him; anything we can offer is through Him. My journey in motherhood has been another example of my wondering, “Do I have what it takes?” The lies that “others can do it better than me” often rest at the forefront of my mind. Yet, when I live rooted in God’s Word, I know that it is in my weakness that I am strong. It is in my foolishness that I am wise. One of my favorite passages is 1 Thessalonians 5:24, He who calls you is faithful; He will surely do it. It’s a short and simple passage and yet the depth is poignant.  The Lord who calls us to Himself is faithful to us. He is faithful in our salvation, and He is faithful in whatever we face. When He calls us, He will lead and provide. I watched the Lord provide for me in my role as a Children’s Director. I experienced His grace, His wisdom, His strength. The lady in the interview was right in what she asked. I really didn’t have much to offer, and in some ways, it didn’t make sense for me to be in the position. But thankfully God is bigger than we think, and He uses the weak and the foolish for His glory so that we may boast in Him alone.

I’m thankful for Paul’s example to the Corinthians. Although they may have thought him a fool, he trusted enough in God’s power, God’s sovereignty, and God’s purpose for salvation. He modeled living out of human weakness and suffering only to boast in the Lord. The Lord may call each of us to things in our lives that feel challenging. Whether it be a career, a ministry opportunity, marriage, parenting, or something else, may we be women who live out the truth of the gospel in our callings. Only in Him are we strong and wise. May we be willing to live out of our weaknesses so that we may live by His strength.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash