Freedom to be Weak

The slavery of performance driven worth and how to overcome it.

There is much pressure in our world today to be worthy. We are frequently pushed to focus on our performance before others so that we can be seen as worthy of people’s time, affection, and love. We ask ourselves: Did I sound normal? Did they think I was weird? What if she thought I was too fat or ugly?

This leads to the slavery of performance driven worth. In which we are only as worthy as we prove ourselves to be in front of others. We work out to get the body, study for tests to get the degree, take on the challenge to seem capable, and buy the clothes to be seen as wealthy. What bondage this places us in!

This mindset often bleeds into how we relate to God. We take our misperception of the world and project it onto Him. He becomes a distant celebrity too important to pay attention to an inadequate wretch. We feel we must do enough good, pray harder, and love Him more, in order to get Him to take notice. How God views us is then based on our performance.

The way to freedom from the performance driven life both in our social lives and relationship with God is to understand what the bible says about us:

“But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us” (2 Corinthians 4:7).

We see a beautiful vase and want the world and God to see us as that, as perfection masterfully crafted and painted smooth. But we are actually broken, dirty, jars of clay. Clay jars are weak, barely capable of holding up to the slightest pressure. In the ancient east they were more valuable as broken shards for note taking. Yet they are a picture of the human condition in its frailty.

When you look inward and find yourself inadequate, unworthy to be in possession of the treasure of God’s saving love, take heart that God knows your condition. He came to meet us where we were. He took the form of a man in Jesus and lived the perfect life we could not, and died the death we deserved to remove the guilt and shame of our sin.

We are free to admit that we are dirty and broken because we have a God who already knows this, and yet chose to save us anyway. “But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).

God places his love and saving mercy on us broken vessels so that he may display his surpassing glory in showing his ability to preserve the clay. In this way the power of God shines brightest and brings the focus to Christ, our perfector, not us. He is given maximum glory by saving rebellious sinners through his work of salvation alone. We contribute nothing to it and he contributes it all. It is when we realize that our weakness actually glorifies God, that we can rest in His sufficient grace.

“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).

We do not need to feel the pressure every time there is a crack or stain, for in Christ we have the freedom to be weak. He is perfecting us through our sanctification but he has already paid the penalty for our sin and justified us. It is through this lens that God sees us as being cloaked in the righteousness of Christ. He therefore can love us as sons and daughters, brothers and sisters of Jesus.

Christian, this is the only approval you need. You do not need to be seen as capable, cool, or attractive before others, but instead as righteous before God. He is all sufficient to both save you and give you worth. Be set free from the bondage of the world’s standards and live in the glorious light of the gospel.

“Come, everyone who thirsts,

come to the waters;

and he who has no money,

come, buy and eat!

Come, buy wine and milk

without money and without price.

[2] Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread,

and your labor for that which does not satisfy?

Listen diligently to me, and eat what is good,

and delight yourselves in rich food.”

(Isaiah 55:1-2)

Further Study

For further study on the ideas and concepts discussed in this article, please refer to the resources below:

True Beauty by Carolyn Mahaney & Nicole Mahaney Whitacre