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 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

Christianity is full of surface-level contradictions. Once we peer below that, we begin to see the way that tension creates an opening for deeper meditation and wisdom.

Christ’s strength helps us when we are weak, that much is easy to understand. “When I am weak, then I am strong” is a lot harder to grapple with. But much as Christ supports us when we are weak, one idea supports the other.

Christian life, whether internally or externally, is one which is built on interdependence. Not codependence, but a recognition of the need for community. We need us!

Christ’s strength is powerful in weakness because when we rely on him, we demonstrate the power of God to change lives through our own. Just as the church is not a weak collection of powerful individuals but a powerful collection of weak individuals, Christ supports us where we lack. Supportive relationships are the whole project of Christianity.

Ethan Kirl