What Does it Mean to Be Strong?

What does “strong” mean to you? Muscle? Grit? Perseverance?

What about vulnerability? It’s usually not the first thing we associate with being strong, but the Bible tells us true strength actually comes from embracing our weaknesses.

The Lord said, “My grace is all you need. Only when you are weak can everything be done completely by my power.” So I will gladly boast about my weaknesses. Then Christ’s power can stay in me. [10] Yes, I am glad to have weaknesses if they are for Christ. I am glad to be insulted and have hard times. I am glad when I am persecuted and have problems, because it is when I am weak that I am really strong.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 ERV

If you don’t feel this way about your weaknesses, don’t worry—the apostle Paul didn’t feel that way at first either. In fact, he spent a lot of his life deeply proud, working hard but missing out on the power and purpose God had planned for him.

Check out our new Mini Quiet Time to see how this self-reliant, self-righteous man started embracing vulnerability and became one of the strongest, most influential spiritual leaders in the New Testament.

Show notes

But the Lord said, “My grace is all you need. Only when you are weak can everything be done completely by my power.” So I will gladly boast about my weaknesses. Then Christ’s power can stay in me. [10] Yes, I am glad to have weaknesses if they are for Christ. I am glad to be insulted and have hard times. I am glad when I am persecuted and have problems, because it is when I am weak that I am really strong.

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 ERV

Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. I was so obsessed with persecuting them that I even hunted them down in foreign cities. [12] “On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests. [13] About noon, King Agrippa, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. [14] We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’

Acts 26:11-14 NIV

We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, ‘Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.’ [15] “Then I asked, ‘Who are you, Lord?’ “ ‘I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,’ the Lord replied. [16] ‘Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me. [17] I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them [18] to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.’ [19] “So then, King Agrippa, I was not disobedient to the vision from heaven.

Acts 26:14-19 NIV

All the other apostles are greater than I am. I say this because I persecuted the church of God. That is why I am not even good enough to be called an apostle. [10] But, because of God’s grace, that is what I am. And his grace that he gave me was not wasted. I worked harder than all the other apostles. (But I was not really the one working. It was God’s grace that was with me.)

1 Corinthians 15:9-10 ERV

I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength to do his work. He considered me trustworthy and appointed me to serve him, [13] even though I used to blaspheme the name of Christ. In my insolence, I persecuted his people. But God had mercy on me because I did it in ignorance and unbelief. [14] Oh, how generous and gracious our Lord was! He filled me with the faith and love that come from Christ Jesus. [15] This is a trustworthy saying, and everyone should accept it: “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”—and I am the worst of them all. [16] But God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realize that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life.

1 Timothy 1:12-16 NLT

Then Agrippa said to Paul, “Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?” [29] Paul replied, “Short time or long—I pray to God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains.”

Acts 26:28-29 NIV

I’ve been broken, lost, depressed, oppressed, and weak that I might find favor and gain the weak. I’m flexible, adaptable, and able to do and be whatever is needed for all kinds of people so that in the end I can use every means at my disposal to offer them salvation. [23] I do it all for the gospel and for the hope that I may participate with everyone who is blessed by the proclamation of the good news.

1 Corinthians 9:22-23 Voice

“Kicking against the goads” meaning