When you believe that your limitations will lead you to failure, remember God’s words: “My grace is sufficient for you”.

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 about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Have you ever been next to a successful person? I’m sure when that has happened to you, you’ve noticed it right away.

Because, if there is one thing that characterizes successful people, it is that they look like successful people..

They are self-confident and self-assured. They express their opinions emphatically, without caring about causing controversy. Even their gestures are powerful. Simply put, they are them.

In all cultures and societies there is a stereotype of a successful person. And if you want to be recognized as such, you must try to fit this definition.

Even if you have not achieved any major accomplishments.

If you insist enough, and transmit that winning image over and over again, others will end up believing you are a winner, and you will end up with a cohort of followers who will accept everything you say and imitate everything you do.

Influencer

This is what is now known as an influencer. And in the Christian world, sometimes, this ends up creeping in.

Individuals who, by insisting and moving, have managed to elevate to absolute truth what are nothing more than opinions or personal occurrences.

And they have created around them a mass of followers who blindly support their postulates, and defend them as if their eternal life depended on it.

Followers of whom, on the other hand, they hardly know a single one of their problems. Because these followers are just a nuisance that you have to put up with to make your words go further.

Many years ago I had a problem with someone who behaved like this. He spoke with such authority and confidence that, at the beginning, he left me feeling unsettled and even made me doubt whether what I had studied was correct.

But little by little God was leading me to understand that it was only his performance that left me confused. When I calmly analyzed his statements I was amazed at how he had been able to deceive me so much with such completely erroneous and out-of-context statements.

But the truth is that our adversary will always present himself as someone who appears to have a lot of power.

Goliath tried to intimidate David; the disciples feared before the raging sea; even Satan presented himself before Jesus as one who had the power to give him the glory of this world.

But none of them had the power they appeared to have. For God is the only one who has all power, and he alone deserves the glory. And if you accept him as lord of your life, he will always be by your side to protect you.

Therefore, it is not to us that we must turn the gaze of others, but to Christ. He is the winner. We are overcomers only if we abide in him.

My grace is sufficient for you

The apostle Paul learned this very well. It is believed that the sting in the flesh he carried may have been a sequel to a disease or injury to his eyes, which made him appear sickly and ungraceful.

Paul asked God to take away that problem, but was met with God’s surprising answer which we find in the 2nd epistle to the Corinthians, chapter 12 and verse 9:

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 about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.

Paul understood perfectly well that we Christians are not in this world to appear to be triumphant people, but to show the world the triumph of Christ.

It is not we whom others should follow, but Christ. And if they follow us, let it be because we are showing them the way of faith. This is what it means to be a true influencer.

That is why Paul stopped worrying about appearing to be a successful person, and began to show himself as the weak person he was.

In this way it became evident to all that the light that shone in him could only be understood as a divine light, and that the power he manifested only made sense if it was something that came from God himself.

We are all imperfect beings called to do God’s perfect work. And this is only possible when Christ is our strength and the center of our lives.

So let us live to present Christ with our lives, for when Christ is exalted before the world through us, lives are changed, heaven rejoices, and hell is shaken.

God bless you.

Cover photo by Ben White on Unsplash