Jesus, the hard pill to swallow.

“Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me.” (John 6:53-57)

Every so often, I find a bit of comfort here and there after accomplishing something that I had planned. Yet, when it’s proven to be insufficient or insignificant in comparison to the vast challenges of life altogether, I feel rather beaten, knocked down.

Paul once said that he rejoices in his weaknesses. My weaknesses are constantly before me, taunting me, jeering at me, calling me a loser, declaring me guilty of being weak, guilty of accomplishing so little if anything at all. So, I could easily say that it’s the total opposite for me.

Yet, it is when Jesus has shown me to be incapable of doing what I had thought I could do by my own strength, which is to secure my sense of comfort, it is then Jesus came along and do something that I had never thought of. Just then, he does something totally new for me. Just then, he gives me a new testimony.

So, after all is said and done, I can definitely echo Paul’s conclusion:

“But God 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. 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.” (2 Corinthians 12:9-10)

Delighting in weaknesses is a hard pill to swallow. Failure is never our hope. Yet, when I fail, Jesus teaches me something new. He teaches that what he did at the cross also covers for this failure and every other failure. He reminds me that all that God has is his and all that is his is the Holy Spirit’s and all that the Holy Spirit has is mine because of his love for me.