(This week's devotional is brought to you by Christa. I hope you enjoy! ~Pastor Chris)
If you watched Chris’s online message last Sunday, you know that he mentioned how he lost in Ping Pong. In fact, out of the last 46 games, I am ahead by two (not that we keep count or anything). But even though I am winning, I have to be honest. Chris is a better Ping Pong player than me. Much better, in fact. So how am I winning?
Let me explain.
A few years ago, Chris made me a dining table from 100 year old barn wood. This barn wood was special to me because it came from my grandfather’s old barn. I love my table. But there is one thing you might, or might not know about barn wood…it’s not perfect. And my barn wood table is not either. There are nail holes, cracks, rough wood, wobbly legs, and many more “imperfections” that make up my table.
It is this very table that we rigged up as a Ping Pong table. It’s not even close to regulation size, and we use a yard stick to hold up a net! A hillbilly Ping Pong table, for sure. But it works. We play almost every single night.
Now, what does this have to do with me beating Chris at Ping Pong? Well, I mentioned how this table is imperfect. I mentioned its holes, its cracks, its roughness. And it’s those very things that make me beat him. You see, I hit the ping pong ball just so it hits the crack and when Chris expects the ball to bounce to his right, it bounces to his left. I aim for a hole and Chris has his paddle ready and waiting on his left and the ball veers to the right. My entire strategy is aiming for cracks and holes…the table’s weakness is my strength!
You know, I was thinking about this in regard to our lives. On Sunday, Chris had quoted a scripture in Luke that stated how if we want to win life, we must stand firm. But, a lot of times, instead of standing firm, we get a little bit like my barn wood table. Wobbly. Filled with holes and cracks. Rough edges. We feel like 100 year old wood!
Our “weaknesses” can come from:
-Past Hurts
-Sin and Disobedience
-Fear
-Health Concerns
-Present Circumstances
-World Problems
-_____________ (You can personalize this line with something that has affected you personally)
This list can’t possible exhaust all of the ways we have been affected over the years. There are so many factors in how we get cracks, bruises, scars, and holes in our lives.
But there is Hope!
Just as I used a barn wood table’s weakness for a strength, God can use your weaknesses for His strength!
2 Corinthians 12:9 begins:
“And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”
God’s strength is made perfect in our weakness! Our weaknesses can point to His strength!!
Here’s how…
-Our Hurts TO His Healing
-Our Sin TO His Forgiveness and Grace
-Our Fear TO Faith in Him
-Our Health, World, and Present Issues TO His Care and Protection
-Your Personal Concern TO His Love and Provision
God can take any of our needs and concerns and use it for His good, His strength, His power, and His love. We can go from wobbly, cracked, worn- out beings TO being used as God’s vessel!
How we can we do this? How can we take all of these weaknesses and have God use them for His strength?
When Chris built my table, he didn’t have all of the right tools. (I’m not complaining, I still LOVE it). Since then, he now has the tools that would fix the cracks, patch up the holes, and smooth out the wood. He knows this table better than anyone, and knows that he can fix it to exactly how it should be. I just don’t want him to. I know all I have to do is ask him. But, I know it will take him too much time and effort. Besides I’m used to it.
We can be like that. We don’t want “fixed.” We want to walk in the sin, we want to harbor the hurt, we want to worry and fear…we are used to it.
We have all of the needed tools to be smoothed out! We have The Tool that can fill all of our cracks and holes!
The One who knows you best, the One who “built” you, the very One who died for you can fill up every hole in your life with His love!
But, you have to want Him to. You have to ask Him. You have to allow Him. And you have to use some tools yourself. God can do miracles in your life, but He also wants you to play a part. He wants you to want Him. He wants to spend time with you.
Some tools to do this are prayer and Bible Study. Pray for His help to heal hurts, to forgive sins, to overcome fear, to move in your life and in this world. Seek Him with all of your heart! And then read His love story to you…the Word. Seek His guidance and His will for your life as you read the Bible.
As you do this, His strength will begin to fill up your life. The very things that you thought were your weaknesses can now be used to show Christ’s strength in you.
And just as I love my barn wood table, know that God loves you even more! He thinks you are beautiful! He would never reject or discard you, no matter how many cracks or holes you have. Instead, He longs to use them, use you to point to Him.
You still might have cracks, you still might have holes, you still might get more. But know that God can use them. He can turn your weaknesses into His strength, when we allow Him to work in our lives.
Will you ask Him to do this right now?
God, take my hurts, my fears, my concerns. I give them to You. I ask for you to fill me up with Your love and hope. Help me to want You more than anything in my life. I know that I am weak. I am imperfect. But will You, the Perfect One, use my weaknesses to show Your glory? I will put my trust in You. I will put my past, my present, and my future in Your hands. To You be the the glory. Amen
So, the next time life sends you a curve ball (or a ping pong ball that bounces the wrong direction!)…may we do what 2 Corinthians 12:9 continues to say:
“…Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me.
And because of this, because of Jesus…WE ARE STRONGER THAN WE THINK!
Our prayers are with you,
Christa Morris
