Our Report Cards of Life - 2 Corinthians 12:7-9

"Examine your imperfections and honestly thank God for those imperfections." Family Discussion:

• How is his power of made perfect in our weakness?
• How did the C's and the D's and the F's of our life buffet us?
• And then why does God show greater love when we're buffeted by him than if he allowed everything on our report card to be straight A's?

Transcription:

00:06 Everybody has their favorite Bible verses, but the Bible verse today surely is one of my very favorites. It was a bible verse that comforted my heart when I was stricken with leukemia a few summers ago. It's Second Corinthians chapter 12, verse 7-9. This one is great. I hope it'll become your favorite, too. It says, "to keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take this thorn away from me, but he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in your weakness." And then this verse, which took it home to me when leukemia was at its worst in my life, he said, "therefore I will all the more gladly boast about my weaknesses so that the power of Christ might rest in me."

01:13 I'll never forget the semester when my daughter Courtney was taking 22 hours in one of her last college semesters, and then working 15 hours a week trying to get out of college and get onto graduate school where she could get her degree in counseling. I remember she, she, she wanted to make all A's but doggone it, at the end of the semester there was a C on her report card. And I remember just taking her into my arms and encouraging her and saying, "you know what, Courtney, I'm so proud of you. I don't care if you made a C or whatever, because I have made so many C's and D's and F's in my life."

01:53 I can't count them. I keep making bad grades. The afflictions just seem to be more abundant all the time. I'm not proud when I fail. I'm sure not thrilled when I make a D on my report card, but I believe there's a reason for the C's and D's and F's on my report card, because those C's and D's and F's, they buffet you, don't they? They humble you. They take you to your knees. But more importantly, as this verse describes in Second Corinthians, it's our afflictions and it's our failures that take us more closely to the heart of Christ. So the questions today, and I know this verse relates to everybody because we all suffer with afflictions, we all make C's and D's and F's, but here's what's cool: How is his power of made perfect in our weakness? And how did the C's and the D's and the F's of our life buffet us? And then why does God show greater love when we're buffeted by him than if he allowed everything on our report card to be straight A's? And then the lifeline for today is this: examine your imperfections and honestly thank God for those imperfections. Because in those imperfections, you received the gift of humility.