"But he said to me. 'For my grace is sufficient for you, my power is made perfect in your weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weakness, so that Christ's power may rest on me." -2 Corinthians 12:9
Inadequacy is a strength. Inadequacy is opportunity. Inadequacy is the best thing that ever happened to me. Living as an extreme perfectionist for the majority of my life, when I finally came to the end of myself, I was struck with just how inadequate I really am. During this painful yet wonderful process, is when Christ made quite clear the beauty of inadequacy.
I am weak. While the world would most definitely look on weakness as something that should be hidden or something we should be ashamed of, it is in all reality quite the opposite. I want to boast in my weakness, because it displays Christ's strength all the more. The weaker I am, the more His strength can be shown, and the more He will be glorified through anything I do that I couldn't do in my own strength. Weakness allows us to be like softened, molded clay in our Creator's hands and the more moldable we are, the more He can do in us and the more He can form us into who He wants us to be.
Inadequacy also allows our own voice, the one telling us that we can do everything on our own and can live up to all the expectations of the world, to be silenced, so we can here our Father's voice beckoning us to come to Him. Through inadequacy, we will be drawn closer to Him due to the fact that we are required to rely on Him more. If we try to do everything in our own power and for an instant we think we are adequate, we get the illusion that we are God and don't need His help. This is dangerous. I've been there and I don't want to go back. It's exhausting playing God and trying to make things work and meet the world's demands. It's not possible. There's a complete comfort and freedom in knowing that He is in control, He has our best interest in mind, He can work through and in us, and He has enough grace to sustain us to do what He wants to do through our weakness.
In saying that, He is enough. The world's applause is not necessary; neither is the approval or even the attention of the world. If I am doing what God has called me to do, and pleasing Him, even if it is simply Him alone, than I have more than enough praise. To have the adoration, approval and acceptance of the Creator of the Universe is much greater than anything man can give me. The beautiful thing about all of this grace and deep love, is it is continual and was there before and is there when I am at my worst. His grace is continual. Christ doesn't leave and neither does His grace. He delights in us. In discovering my inadequacy, I also discovered His sovereignty and deep love.
We need to change our mindset to where we are constantly thinking of inadequacy as a bad thing. If anything it is an opportunity for Christ to do more in and through us, since it is required to rely and look to Him for each action and decision made. Inadequacy also gives Christ the attention and praise, because He took what seemed to be impossible for you to do and made it possible through Himself and His grace. Inadequacy also highlights our worth, which is rather ironic, since we tend to see inadequacy as demeaning.Inadequacy shows that while we are not good enough and don't have enough power to do things on our own, Christ still continues to poor out His grace on us, love us, delight in us, and takes His time helping and molding us. Embrace your inadequacy and weakness. Embrace who you are in Christ and the opportunity to lean on Him and grow closer to Him through your weakness. When we do this, it shows anything is possible when we are being molded in the hands of a limitless, skillful God who, by grace, has our best in mind.
