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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 (ESV)Dietrich Bonhoeffer: , *The Cost of Discipleship*
To endure the cross is not a tragedy; it is the suffering which is the fruit of an exclusive allegiance to Jesus Christ. When it comes, it is not an accident, but a necessity. It is not the sort of suffering which is inseparable from this mortal life, but the suffering which is an essential part of the specifically Christian life. It is not suffering per se but suffering-and-rejection, and not rejection for any cause or conviction of our own, but rejection for the sake of Christ. … But the gracious will of God becomes a daily humiliation to the self. Every day it makes us see our own weaknesses and the power of God. That is the real meaning of the thorn in the flesh -- to keep us from being too elated.
Henri Nouwen: , *The Return of the Prodigal Son*
The great conversion called for by Jesus is to move from belonging to the world to belonging to God. As long as we belong to the world, we will remain subject to its competitive ways and expect to be rewarded for all the good we do. But when we belong to God, who loves us unconditionally, we can stop seeking human approval. … The way from resentment to gratitude is a long and often painful one. It requires the hard discipline of the heart. But the one who spoke to Paul -- "My grace is sufficient for you" -- says the same to us. Not because our struggle is small, but because his grace is bigger than any wound we carry.
Cyprian of Carthage: , *On the Mortality* (Chapter 14)
What room is there here for anxiety and worry? Who, in the midst of these things, is trembling and sad except he who is without hope and faith? For it is for him to fear death who is not willing to go to Christ. It is for him to be unwilling to go to Christ who does not believe that he is about to reign with Christ. … The just are called to refreshment, the unjust are carried off to torture; protection is more quickly given to the faithful, punishment to the faithless. … We must consider, beloved brethren, and constantly reflect that we have renounced the world and are living here as guests and strangers in the meantime. Let us embrace the day that assigns each of us to his dwelling -- the day that tears us from these snares and restores us to paradise and the kingdom.
Dallas Willard: , *The Spirit of the Disciplines*
The secret of the easy yoke is simple, actually. It is the intelligent, humble, and prayerful acceptance of our lives as they really are -- including the discovery and acceptance of our own weaknesses -- together with the resolute determination to live our whole lives with Jesus. … But the cost of non-discipleship is far greater than the cost of discipleship. The cost of non-discipleship is the loss of the easy yoke and the light burden. The cost of non-discipleship is to carry the impossible weight of our own adequacy, to insist on our own strength, to pretend we have no thorn. And that weight will eventually break anyone.
If your greatest weakness today turned out to be the very place Christ's power was landing most fully, what would you stop hiding?
Seneca: , *Letters to Lucilius*, Letter 41 (translated by Robin Campbell)
God is near you, he is with you, he is within you. This is what I mean, Lucilius: a holy spirit dwells within us, one who marks our good and bad deeds, and is our guardian. As we treat this spirit, so are we treated by it. No man is good without God. Can anyone rise superior to fortune unless he is helped by God? It is he that gives noble and upright counsel. In each good man a god does dwell -- though what god we do not know. … If you see a man who is unterrified in the midst of dangers, untouched by desires, happy in adversity, calm in the midst of storm, viewing mankind from a higher level and the gods from their own -- will you not be moved by a feeling of veneration before him? … A thing like this must have the help of some deity. Its greater part is that which it descends from. Just as the rays of the sun reach the earth but belong to their source, so a great and holy spirit, sent down to bring us a closer knowledge of the divine, dwells with us but clings to its own fountain.
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