This past weekend, a friend and I were talking about God’s grace. She shared with me she has been thinking through 2 Corinthians 12 and the meaning of God’s grace being sufficient for me. She was having some new thoughts about this verse and wondered what I thought about it. What follows is the result of that conversation. I began researching this verse, praying through the passages, and talking to Isaac about it. The following is a beautiful step out of my bondage to proving my faith and position as a child of God. Another step further into freedom.
To begin, let’s read the actual verse we’re talking about. 2 Corinthians 12:9 says “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.” For context, in this chapter Paul explains a situation of suffering. He had what he called, a thorn in the flesh. Some type of trial that he prayed often for God to take away or give him victory over. Three times God said no. The last time, God said “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Here is where my theology got wonky. I had always thought that this verse meant that God gave me enough power to overcome my weaknesses. I applied this verse to the temptation I was really struggling with and told myself over and over that God has enough grace for me to conquer this temptation and live a victorious life. I had always thought that having victory over a sin was power being displayed, my weakness (sin) being made right (God’s power). But in the context, Paul was talking about the thorn in his flesh, that God didn’t take away. The thing that Paul didn’t conquer and have victory over. It wasn’t making sense to me once I read the whole chapter. Then I noticed a reference to look at Romans 8:31-39.
Let’s take a second and read these verses. It’s a little long, but I’d challenge you to read them, maybe even a few times, to let the words seep into your soul.
Romans 8:31-39 What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all–how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died–more than that, who was raised to life–is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
I’ve read these verses so many times before, but when I read them while researching the passage in 2 Corinthians, they came alive in a whole new way. As before, I thought these verses were talking about sin, and I can see where my faulty application could have led me so far from the truth. I thought that I conquered sin, and that action was what was keeping me close to the Father. I couldn’t be separated from the love of God because I was conquering sin. Putting these two passages together, I thought that God gave me enough grace to have victory over sin and therefore I was safe and secure in the love of God. And that’s what I based most of my adult life on. But here’s where it falls apart; what happens when I don’t have victory over sin? What happens when my offering of service to prove my position as a child of God gets messed up? What happens when everyone is telling me that I’m an awful person for doing that thing, or not doing that thing? How does this theology apply when people tell me my actions prove I don’t love God?
I can honestly say that over the past year, I realized that I didn’t actually believe that God loved me just because He loved me. I spoke of God’s love to a lot of people, but my heart was whispering that it wasn’t true for me. My heart was telling me that I needed to prove my faith by my actions. My heart lied to me and told me that my safety and security was tied to my service. But that is not what these two passages say. I was looking at it backwards.
The phrase “my grace is sufficient for you” gets thrown around a lot, but in the context, it’s clearly talking about thorns that we haven’t gotten rid of yet. Things in our lives that we know we need to work on or give attention to, but we just haven’t gotten there. We tend to only quote half of that message from God to Paul. God’s power is made perfect in weakness. In the not-yet-conquered areas of our lives. God’s power is perfect there, right in the middle of the mess. In Romans, we learn to rest in the security of God’s love, but not because of our victory of sin. Who can be against God’s children (verse 31)? Who can bring a charge against those whom God chose (verse 33)? Who can condemn you (verse 34)? The answer to all three of these questions is no one! Not you, or anyone else. Let that truth get into your skin and settle into the deepest corner of your heart. No one can condemn you or bring a charge against you. I was living backwards. I was obeying and serving because I believed it would get me God’s love, when I should have felt safe and secure in God’s love therefore I obeyed and served. Moving out of love into obedience allows me to be secure whether I sin or chose to do the right thing. Obedience brings God glory, and I can repent and allow God to work in my heart to remove sin. But whether I sin or obey, I am still safe and secure and loved. Nothing can separate me from God’s love.
As I have been thinking and praying through all of this, I keep seeing this scene. It’s a picture of heaven and I see a big ball of light, God on his throne. Next to him is Jesus and he’s sitting there, waiting. I see myself walking in with a crowd of people, angry people. I’ve had run ins with people like this. People that make a list of all my flaws and bring it to my pastor and my husband demanding that I change. People that berate me because of my choices, telling me my best effort to obey God isn’t good enough for them. People that tell me to be quiet and finally get over that struggle. Are you hearing any of the things “those people” have said to you? I bet it doesn’t take long for you to think of all the things that people have said to you, sins they’ve pointed out, or even just their personal preferences or opinions. Those people get so loud sometimes and words hurt. Words carry weight and leave a scar. But that’s not the end of the story. I see those people yelling all their charges against me at the throne of God and I see Jesus stand up. I see my savior Jesus walk over and the angry people stop mid sentence. Jesus intercedes on my behalf and takes the place of all those angry people. Jesus loves me. I am justified before God, because of the blood of Jesus. God does not condemn me, because of Jesus. All those angry people and all that hate has nothing on me, Jesus intercedes on my behalf.
The word conqueror in verse 37, have you ever thought about what it’s referring to? If you look back at verses 35 and 36 there’s a whole list of things we are conquering: trouble, hardship, persecution, famine, nakedness, danger, sword, sheep being lead to the slaughter. Sin is not in this list. It’s saying that through Jesus I have already conquered all the things in that list. In the end, Jesus wins and I win along with him. I have been given salvation. Jesus took my place and paid my debt, the debt of sin that I could never pay. This is not something that I earned and it’s not something that I can be disqualified for. No charge against me, whether valid or not, changes my position. Death, life, angels, demons, the present, the future, powers, height, depth, anything in all creation: none of these things can make God love me any more or any less. My position as a child of God is unshakeable because Jesus made me a conqueror through His sacrifice on the cross.
I have been rocked this weekend by this truth. Seeing Jesus intercede in the middle of all that noise and putting himself at my side has given me hope. No victory in sin will make my place in God’s family more fixed. No amount of service at my church will make me more safe. No mistake or bad choice, or lack of progress will make me less sealed. I’ve been replaying some of the nasty things people have said to me and I keep seeing Jesus stand there, batting it down. I’ve been listening to some nasty lies I have rolling around in my head and I keep going back to Jesus standing by my side speaking truth to those lies. That sin that I have struggled with for what feels like my whole life, Jesus calls me patiently into obedience. Not because it earns me a place in God’s family or gives me more of God’s love. Simply because Jesus loves me and wants me to live in the light. Jesus wants me to have victory over sin. But I am safe and secure because Jesus loves me.
God’s grace is sufficient for you. We can walk through hard moments and suffering because God will carry us through. Through Jesus we can rejoice always, as we read in 1 Thessalonians. We can rejoice because we know that we are safe and secure even during a storm, even when we sin and chose to disobey. Jesus is interceding for us every single moment of every single day. I pray this brings hope and light into your heart today. I pray we can live our life from a place of love and acceptance in God’s family, resulting in obedience and stepping out in faith.
Abigail Denton 