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This is a continuation of the series on The Body.
Sometimes people question how God created people. Let’s tackle some challenging questions.
Does God create imperfect bodies? There are many who are born with what we consider disabling conditions. Would God do that or was it someone else’s fault? If God somehow goofed, why did He not fix His Mistake?
Jesus addressed these questions in His Encounter with a man born blind from birth. He was asked whether the man or his parents were to blame for his blindness.
Jesus set the record straight. Neither of them. Indeed Jesus essentially said, “God did it.”
“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that The Works of God might be displayed in him.”
John 9:3
Were The Works of God only apparent on the day Jesus gave him earthly sight? No. The Works of God had been in evidence from the moment the man was born.
He had faithful, loving caregivers, who had nurtured him into adulthood. Who knows how many lives had been touched during the man’s time of earthly blindness.
All those with spiritual sight had seen The Works of God!
So every body is created by God for His Purposes. Everybody is special and deserving of Love. Look at yourself and every one else as a special Creation of God.
The man born blind was given the Gift of physical sight by Jesus. But what about those who have conditions that are not brought to what they would like?
Paul had one of those conditions. The Bible does not tell us exactly what it was. But Paul wanted to be healed.
Paul said,
“Three times I pleaded with The Lord to take it away from me. But He said to me, ‘My Grace is sufficient for you, for My Power is made perfect in weakness.’”
2 Corinthians 12:8-9
Why did Paul have the problem? The only real answer is the answer The Lord gave him. God’s Power is made perfect in our weakness.
When we get to the point of being unable to pull off any great things in our own strength, and yet God does great things through us, we know it is Him and not us.
I have met some true saints of God when physically they had little to give. And yet The Power of God flowed through them mightily.
I would not characterize myself as a saint, but I can also testify of so many times when I had nothing left to give physically and yet The Lord did amazing things through my body that astounded me. It was totally Him and not me.
Paul’s conclusion was
“When I am weak, then I am strong.”
2 Corinthians 12:10
He was correct. We can read Paul’s statement as
“When I am weak, then I AM (God’s Name) strong!”
Sometimes God will reveal His power through restoring our physical bodies to a stronger earthly body. Sometimes He will reveal His Power by decreasing our physical bodies and revealing more of His Spirit from within us.
Paul also came to another conclusion. He said this about the body,
“We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing Power is from God and not from us.
We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed.
We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that The Life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body.
For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that His Life may also be revealed in our mortal body.
2 Corinthians 4:7-10
So however God chooses to use our bodies, we can be sure He has a Plan and it will not only be for His Glory, it will also be for our good.
Paul knew. He concluded,
“We know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His Purpose.”
Romans 8:28
