“For our proud confidence is this: The testimony of our conscience,
that in holiness and godly sincerity, not in fleshly wisdom
but in the grace of God, we have conducted ourselves in the world,
and especially toward you.”
2 Corinthians 1:12

It is no wonder to any battle scarred believer in Christ, that Paul would say that He conducts himself in the grace of God. Rather, it is an immense encouragement to me to hear of the sufferings of Christ being played out in my brothers and sisters in Christ. It brings me to the reality that I am not alone on this planet. I am not alone in struggle, despair, pain and sufferings for Christ. It is in these sufferings that I gain a new understanding of the much needed grace of God. And I do not mean a knowing with the intellect, but I, through trial and suffering know and become aware with a knowledge of the heart, the grace of God that is my everything I need in all circumstances: physical, spiritual, emotional, mental…etc. As I am stretched beyond limit; broken, NO! shattered into pieces that cannot be picked up, there I gain Christ in all of His infinite, abounding grace. He puts me back together as I gain a new gratitude for who He is and for His strength supplied to me. My weakness reveals His strength. In my weakness, He proves His power and it is in this power, His power for us that we must conduct “ourselves in the world and especially toward you.”

“Father, help us to conduct ourselves not in fleshly wisdom but in the Grace that you supply. Amen.”