We live in a culture where the word “self” is often praised. We see it all over social media, highlighted in books and articles, and it’s been coined this generation’s slogan, and emphasized by motivational speakers and influencers. We hear words such as self-help, self-care, and self-sufficiency as the common theme. These words at first can seem empowering, but they lead to life based solely around ourselves in our own strength and in our own sufficiency. It feeds us the lie that we only need ourselves and we can do it all by ourselves, therefore we push God out.

Often times, we may experience burnout or exhaustion trying to depend only on ourselves. When we depend daily on ourselves, it can lead to us daily denying our need for Jesus.

In today’s verse, it is talking about the opposite of self-sufficiency. As a Christian, the more time we spend with the Lord to understand the gospel, is the time when we begin to understand our great need for a Savior. It is that moment when we find ourselves in our depleted efforts to save ourselves, that we realize our true need for God. Today’s passage talks about how God is enough, and that He is more than enough. It is in our weakness, our exhaustion, and our own efforts, that we realize that “His strength is made perfect in our weakness”. Christ is sufficient for us, and we will always come up short, when we are trying to do it in our own strength.

We must go to the Lord in our inadequacies to relieve us of the exhaustion in trying to do it on our own. We must read His word daily and implant His truth and His ways on our heart, rather than telling ourselves what culture tells us as we attempt to find the inner strength. It is God’s strength that will make our weakness perfect. We cannot do it all on our own in our own strength. It is “in His strength, that we can do all things.” (Philippians 4:13)

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