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 of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. | 2 Corinthians 12:9–10
In one sense, writing an article about the power of humility is contradictory; not only because meekness and power aren’t usually on the same side of the coin, but also because the pursuit of humility means setting aside our desire for strength. To want power is going to work against your humility. On the other hand, the Bible constantly makes the point that true strength is found in weakness, that the meek will inherit the earth. How do we balance a life of humility with the promise of power?
I think we need to re-consider what power is. When we consider strength, we are usually imagining being able to dominate others. Not necessarily in an aggressive, combative way, but strength means being more than someone else. The first thing that Jesus’ life shows us is that there is something more important than dominance. Jesus willingness to serve is highlighted as a form of strength we seldom acknowledge. Power, from a Biblical standpoint, is not about the position you hold or things you achieve, but is based in whether or not you are on God’s side. We don’t use God in order to gain power, but our relationship with Him is the greatest source of strength.
This should leads us to pursue power and strength very differently. As long as we imagine ourselves great, we are diminishing our ability to be in full submission to God. If getting our relationship with God right is the greatest source of power, than this means is that our greatest strength is going to be found in weakness. It is when we are forced to recognize our limitations that we need to lean into His sovereignty and recognize our continual need for Him.
The fact that He welcomes us to do this is where we find strength. God doesn’t wish us to recognize our weakness so that we feel beat down and defeated, He wants us to see the shortcoming we all have, so that we can come to Him for the help we need. The good news of the gospel is that when we come to God – whom we have rebelled from and made ourselves enemies of – He welcomes us. He uses this moment of humility to lift us up and to assure us that we are not defined by our failures.
This new definition of who we are, this humble confidence, allows us to operate in community without the need for approval or the fear of rejection. We can humbly serve others as an act of worship to God. We can risk and serve without expecting anything in return. We can take a hit and keep going, because our ultimate goal is not to keep ourselves from harm, but to live in obedience to God. This makes humility the goal of the Christian life, but also the means to get there. As we allow God’s truth to take power in our life, we are able to both become more sure of who we are and what we are doing; this drives us into a deeper love and trust. This love and trust is strength, a strength reflected most clearly in Jesus’ willingness to let go of His heavenly glory to come to a sinful world and to die to rescue His people.
It is entirely appropriate to say that humility is power, we just need to be able to trust that God’s power is better than the strength we fight each other for on a daily basis.