Epiphany

If you know me, you know that every so often I have little thoughts/sayings that make a ton of sense to me and seem to piece together, slowly or quickly, and then I probably use these epiphanies every so often...especially if you have a issue or problem that you are talking to me about. Bobby's probably sick of my epiphanies by now. =) Anyway...here's something that I just thought through and thought I would share.

I stumbled on this verse and thought of myself, then thought of others in this world as well that deal with this same thought. Many times with humans, it is difficult for us to admit our weaknesses...or that we have them in general even. But, as this verse explains, we have them to bring glory to God, believe it or not. And I love that. God gave me weaknesses and pain for many reasons, 1) to show/make me admit that I need God - why would I come to God if he didn't prove my lowliness every so often? and 2) so that His Glory can be "advertised" through me. I LOVE that last one! I HAVE to have imperfections and pain in order to show the rest of the world that there is a God.

2 Corinthians 12:7-10
7 To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 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. 10 That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

For example...say that you have people that you hang around with that aren't Christ followers, but you hang out with and interact with them on a consistent basis. They get to know you, obviously, and get to know your character and really admire and respect you. Then one day you happen to be talking about a touchy subject. Defenses raise, you and others are all trying to prove your points, and it gets ugly. You yell, maybe even name call, and act completely out of character. In fact...you - the Christ follower - are the nastiest one of the bunch. Nobody likes to admit this, but even with the most Godly individuals, this happens. So..your friends think, where did this come from? I thought he/she was "perfect" in a sense...if I respect them so much other times, where'd this ugliness come from? How can they be just like me, yet the majority of times they seem so great and put together? This right here, this is a testimony to bring glory to God. God makes us the "great" and the "put together", we don't have anything to do with it....and God is truly the one they are respecting when they respect us and our actions, not us. Without God...we'd be nasty all of the time...and what a blessing it is for God to choose us for this! He made us great, we did nothing to deserve that...but He did anyway.

Many times people ask why there is pain, suffering, weakness...and I think I just had an epiphany why it's with us....believe it or not...it's to exalt GOD! All of this said, I wanted to send this along and post this, because at times I know we are all ashamed of your weakness. And as we should try to grow and learn from weaknesses and mistakes...I still think this is a lesson for us. We will never fully get rid of our nastiness....we must try to "better" what we can...and then leave the rest for the God to use for His glory. It's a great advertisement for what God can do, who He truly is, and this brings glory to God! Over the last year, I've realized that my purpose in this life is to affect others for God's glory. What's your purpose?