Weak and Powerful

Today I was reading the last chapter in 2 Corinthians, and I came across this section of scripture:

1This is the third time I am coming to you. Every charge must be established by the evidence of two or three witnesses. 2I warned those who sinned before and all the others, and I warn them now while absent, as I did when present on my second visit, that if I come again I will not spare them-- 3since you seek proof that Christ is speaking in me. He is not weak in dealing with you, but is powerful among you. 4For he was crucified in weakness, but lives by the power of God. For we also are weak in him, but in dealing with you we will live with him by the power of God.

Paul tells us that Christ was "crucified in weakness" and he "lives by the power of God". He links that to our weakness .. for we are a weak people. Look at how often we give in to sin, even without wanting to? BUT we live with Christ THROUGH (or by) the POWER of God!

When we do what God wants us to, we are not doing it on our own, we are doing it through the power of God. Paul was dealing with sinners in the Corinthian church... he had warned them of their sin before, and was coming now for the third time. He will not spare them when he comes again to them. They need to be aware of their sin, and by implication, STOP what they are doing which is wrong. Just as Christ is not weak when dealing with us, so Paul will not be weak in dealing with offenders either.

We should be like Paul. When we see Christians sinning, we need to speak to them about it. We need to go in God's strength, not on our own, but with 2-3 witnesses. We need to be strong in Christ....after all, it is by his power that we do such things. Show our weaknesses, admit to them, but don't use it as an excuse to allow wrongness to continue.

Paul was not shy in showing his weaknesses, but neither was he shy in proclaiming the power of God working through him.

I also found this section of interest.

5Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you? --unless indeed you fail to meet the test! 6I hope you will find out that we have not failed the test. 7But we pray to God that you may not do wrong--not that we may appear to have met the test, but that you may do what is right, though we may seem to have failed.

There are times when I think I will never "feel" secure in my salvation, that I will always wonder if my longing after God is real, or just a thing that I do. I know in a sense that God dwells within me. I know that I strive after the things of God, but there is always this part of me that wonders....am I just fooling myself? The number of times that I repent of such thoughts is amazing, and I so often wish that it was just not part of me.

So when I read verses such as these, I wonder...well....how do I test myself in a way that I know if I have passed or failed? Do I have to forever test myself? What type of test must I devise to know it is fool-proof (me being the fool)? I am just left with all these doubts again.

Maybe what the true test is, is this....do others see Christ at work within you?

I don't know....what do you think?