“Through Christ’s grace our weakness can make us strong.”
I’m happy to be here today and am very excited to have the opportunity to talk to you all this afternoon. For those that may not know I am headed to the Kentucky Louisville Mission – French Speaking, and I begin my MTC training at home next week. I absolutely cannot wait to go and serve the Lord as one of his missionaries. I will be speaking to you today about how “Through Christ’s Grace our weakness can make us strong”, this is based on 2 Corinthians 12:7-10. This is the Apostle Paul’s second epistle to the Corinthians, and Chapter 12 is talking about a vision that he had and discusses how Christ can improve upon our weaknesses. In verse 9 he states after asking the Lord why he was given weaknesses, “And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee; for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” I really like this idea that we are given weakness because we have to turn to God to access his grace in order to become better and stronger people.
I like to create and use my hands. I love woodworking, LEGOs, and puzzles for this reason. Because of this interest in how things are made I have taken an interest in the process of metalworking, specifically blade smithing. And that is mostly because of a TV competition show called “Forged in Fire''. I don’t know how many of you know of this show, but it’s very interesting and most of my family has watched a decent amount of it. In each episode, 4 different blade smiths from around the country compete to create blades within time constraints that will perform best when tested for strength, sharpness, and in the end overall aesthetics. My main interest in this show is to see the process in which a blob of unshapen metal can be shaped into some very beautiful tools. There are also some very interesting parallels between our lives and metal working that I would like to discuss today.
Firstly, there are many different kinds of steel, which all have different uses. When it comes to blade creation specifically, they need to use steel that is not too hard that it cannot be worked with, but not too soft that it won’t harden at the end of the forging process. Blades cannot be shaped if the material is too hard to start with. Instead, when it is being worked upon, it can create cracks and impurities that can ultimately lead the piece to shattering when it is being used, or just be unable to become any more than a lump of metal. But if it is proper steel, the hammering on it will take out the impurities and make it a stronger piece. As is the same with our lives. If we are too stubborn, and do not let Christ work out our impurities but have hardened our hearts, he cannot turn us into what we need to become so that we can accomplish his work through us.
Secondly, and what is impressive with metal working is how it needs to be heated up to some very high temperatures, and when it is hot enough the smith hits it repeatedly with a hammer. This process shapes the metal and removes those imperfections. But it is not an easy or quick process. A couple years ago, I had a Sunday school lesson with Brother Darling, and he mentioned this process as well. It can be long, grueling, and painful to let God work out our weakness. We don’t like to be in the heat of life, we like it to be calm and cool. But as with metal, it cannot be shaped when it is cool. Either the hammer strokes have no effect, or it can end up damaging the blade. As a teacher I had in high school said, “The comfort zone is a nice place, but nothing ever grows there.” God allows us to have imperfections, he allows us to go through hot and difficult trials because we need those experiences to be worked upon and strengthened.
And lastly with metalworking, when it is all forged and tempered into a hard and strong product an edge is placed on it. It is ground into the optimal shape for the purpose that it is to be used. But as we all know, even the best blades will dull over time. But God is infinitely merciful to us, even when we have our times of sharpness and we have done what we have been asked to do, we will always fall short and become dull. But Christ will always return to us, no matter how many times we need it, to sharpen our edge and bring us back to the glory that we strive for.
I know that we all have weaknesses, and one that I struggle with often is that I have ADHD (or attention deficit hyperactivity disorder). Because of this I know that I often will lose focus on things I need to be doing, or I may be a bit more forgetful than the people around me, or I simply just get distracted and not be aware that I am missing out on something important. And I will be honest, I do commonly face these struggles. But that being said, I am aware of them and I am actively focused on turning to Christ to better understand how to benefit from them. As stated in Ether 12:27, “And if men come unto me I will show unto them their weakness. I give unto men weakness that they may be humble; and my grace is sufficient for all men that humble themselves before me, and have faith in me, then will I make weak things become strong unto them.” I have also learned that ADHD can be used as what some people call a “superpower”. It can come with the ability to be more emotionally aware of people around you, or can cause me to be more creative. And what I think most interestingly I can, whether on purpose or not, hyper-focus on tasks or subjects that I find particularly interesting or stimulating. This state of focus can last for hours and I can work on or learn about things and it will only feel like it has been a short period of time. For example, I have been able to spend a lot of time at the temple these last couple months as an ordinance worker. Because I was in the unique position where I did not know when I was going to get a mission call for almost 6 months because of some stomach issues I had, I was allowed to work in the temple 4 days a week. Usually, ordinance workers are there for 1-2 days per week and I'm double that. I've learned that in the temple, it is a place that I can sit and ponder and forget the world and my struggles, and just feel of the Lord as well as learn about him. As a worker I will often have lengthy periods of time, sometimes over 30 minutes that we are sitting and waiting until it is time to go assist in the next ordinance that we are needed for. And during these times I can often, not always but that’s ok, just sit and read the scriptures and study answers to questions that I have on any given day. And I will just forever be grateful to spend this time in the temple to learn of God and his role in our lives.
Christ knows each of us personally and His grace is unique to all of us. He knows what each of us need to become like him, and he is aware of our personal struggles. When I was writing this, I was reminded of a poem that I have heard many times. It is called “Touch of a Master’s Hand” by Myra Brooks Welch, and is one of my very favorites. I won’t quote the whole poem because I'm sure many of you have heard it a few times. But if you haven’t, I definitely encourage you to look it up when you have a chance. In the beginning of the poem, it starts with an auctioneer who is trying to sell a battered and broken violin, which he honestly doesn’t think worth his time. He starts at a dollar, it increases to two, then 3. It is going once, going twice, almost gone. But an old man from the back of the room stands and comes forward. He takes the old violin, wipes it down, tightens the strings and plays a beautiful melody. The room was changed and now the auctioneer asks how much for the violin. One thousand, two thousand, three thousand. Going, going, gone. The crowd cheers but some ask why the worth seemed to have changed so much. And to quote the poem “swift came the reply: “The touch of a master’s hand.” And many a man with life out of tune, And battered and scarred with sin, Is auctioned cheap to the thoughtless crowd, Much like the old violin. A “mess of pottage,” a glass of wine, A game—and he travels on. He’s “going” once, and “going” twice, He’s “going” and almost “gone.” But the Master comes, and the foolish crowd, Never can quite understand, the worth of a soul and the change that’s wrought By the touch of the Master's Hand.” God sees all the potential in us. He sees the beauty that no one else can. He knows he made us and he made us perfectly. Sometimes while being out in the world, we are misused and broken, but by turning back to him we are made whole and perfected in him. As I stated earlier, God says that his grace “is sufficient” for all of us, and he will never forsake us, regardless of how long it takes us to return to him.
For my final thought I would like to finish with a return to the idea of metal working, but in this case the “Refiner’s fire”. When I was researching about weaknesses being made strong, the phrase refiner’s fire came to mind, but I honestly didn’t know what it actually was. So, I looked around and I found a video of a pastor of another faith that had some very good insights about it. He describes the story of a group of young women who were studying the bible and came across Malachi 3:3 which reads, “And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness.” He says that, “this verse puzzled the women and they wondered what the statement meant about the character and the nature of God. One of the women offered to find out about the process of refining silver... that week this woman called a silver smith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn’t mention anything about the reason for her interest in silver beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and he let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames are the hottest as to burn away all the impurities. The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot, then she thought again about the verse, ‘That he sits as a refiner and a purifier of silver’. She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined. The man answered yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left even a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed. The woman was silent for a moment, and then she asked the silversmith ‘how do you know when the silver is fully refined?’ He looked up at her and smiled, and he answered, ‘Oh that’s easy, when I see my image in it.’ If today when you’re feeling the heat of the fire, remember God has his eye on you.” Brethren and sisters, God has his eye on us, and he will wait however long it takes until he can see his image in us. And as Neil L. Anderson, whom I had the privilege to meet during my time at the temple, taught “Overcoming weaknesses is not one defining moment in a lifetime, but a lifetime of moments that define an eternity”. We can’t expect change to happen overnight. It takes a lifetime of effort. Luckily, we don’t have to go through it alone: the lord is by our side every step of the way.
-Testimony
I say these things in the name of Jesus Christ Amen
After church he had friends and family over. We had a penne pasta bar (his special request) and we watched his slideshow that his sister, Brook, put together.
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