I suffer mental illness. Ive been persecuted online by “Christians.” Is this an example of being weak as the apostle Paul mentioned? I dont know but I sure am weak and humbled by it. Im also deeply hurt by those people. Paul also said that God chooses the weak and foolish things. So in my mind its ok to have these struggles. So what if im not normal? Is weak and foolish normal in this world?
I hear how deeply hurt you are, and I am so sorry you had to experience that. There is a profound, aching pain when people who claim the name of Christ use their words to persecute, mock, or add weight to someone who is already carrying a heavy burden like mental illness. That is not the heart of Jesus, and it is completely understandable that you feel deeply wounded by it.
To answer your question directly: No, your struggles and your hurt are not an example of being “weak” in a shameful way, and you are completely right,in God’s economy, it is absolutely okay to have these struggles. Is there anything specific you would like to discuss?
Peter
Thank you. I didn’t mean shameful in a bad way. In eyes of the world its shameful but not in God’s eyes. Im referring to Paul’s thorn in his flesh (2 Corinthians chapter 12) as well as the 1 Corinthians scripture below.
(NKJV) 1 Corinthians 4:8 Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! You have begun to reign—and that without us! How I wish that you really had begun to reign so that we also might reign with you! **9 **For it seems to me that God has put us apostles on display at the end of the procession, like those condemned to die in the arena. We have been made a spectacle to the whole universe, to angels as well as to human beings. **10 **We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored! **11 **To this very hour we go hungry and thirsty, we are in rags, we are brutally treated, we are homeless. **12 **We work hard with our own hands. When we are cursed, we bless; when we are persecuted, we endure it; **13 **when we are slandered, we answer kindly. We have become the scum of the earth, the garbage of the world—right up to this moment.
(NKJV) 1 Corinthians 1:**18 **For the [g]message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God. **19 **For it is written:
“I will destroy the wisdom of the wise,
And bring to nothing the understanding of the prudent.”
**20 **Where is the wise? Where is the scribe? Where is the [h]disputer of this age? Has not God made foolish the wisdom of this world? **21 **For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. **22 **For Jews request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; **23 **but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a [i]stumbling block and to the [j]Greeks foolishness, **24 **but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. **25 **Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.
Glory Only in the Lord
**26 **For [k]you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many [l]noble, are called. **27 **But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; **28 **and the [m]base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, **29 **that no flesh should glory in His presence. **30 **But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption— **31 **that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.”