Inadequate by design

2 Corinthians 12:9-10, “And He said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’ Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”

Yesterday I had the wonderful opportunity to attend a group we call Iwo Jima. I say wonderful because for the past 6 weeks something has always stood in the way of me getting together with the group.

For those that don’t know, Iwo Jima is a group of predominately men who universally are seeking God with all they can. Most are involved in ministry in some capacity. And so yesterday as the group opened up it became very clear that the theme, if there is such a thing, was centered on failure, and feeling inadequate. And why should men of God, ministers of the gospel not feel inadequate? After all, we know the truth… or at least think we do… but we also know ourselves, and if we are honest with ourselves then we also know we fail daily and are grossly inadequate in all our rolls.

One pastor shared his humbling struggles with his 11 year old daughter. Here is a man that like all good father’s wants to the best for his daughter and to be the best father. Forget the added pressure of having an audience in the form of a church congregation watching in what is often judgment. Another young man was faced with the reality that as a husband he is inadequate, and that his wife suffers a similar fate. The truth that we cannot be Christ for anyone, including our children, spouses, friends, etc was swirling through the room. We are inadequate.

You are inadequate.

We are going to fail over and over again and it’s ok. It is all part of God’s plan. He causes all things to work together for good for those who love Him. (Romans 8:28) And this includes our failures.  

And so the sign post that you are entering the 2^nd half of spiritual life, as Richard Rohr would call it. The sign that you are operating from within the kingdom of God as I call it is that failure is necessary. It is a necessary part of the cross and the death of ego, and the resurrection of Christ in it’s place. But failure is necessary so that we can recognize our weakness and allow Christ’s strength to come through. This is what Paul was describing in 2 Corinthians 12.

So in the context of Christ’s power being perfected failures and inadequacies are natural and necessary. It is possible to stop fighting these things. It is possible to acknowledge that I am not a perfect father because I am not a perfect reflection of Christ… all the while allowing the power of Christ to be perfected in me and be at work in all I do.

This in no way means to quit trying to be a perfect reflection of Christ. But this is to say that any of those efforts in our own ability, in our on understanding will always be inadequate. And it’s ok because God knows we are going to fail long before it ever actually happens. It’s by His design so that Christ can be lifted up.

I will close with this… if God left it up to us none of us would make it. We will always be found inadequate failures. Christ and Christ alone is adequate, and the closer you get to Him; the more you seek that relationship, the deeper into the kingdom you go and the clearer this understanding becomes. Not because you have studied a doctrine, read a book, sat under a master teacher, but because you have encountered him time and time again and found yourself lacking compared to His wisdom and beauty. He is the standard that we will never reach, and that is EXACTLY how God intended it to be.