_{by Trent- from August 2005}

How can I give away, something that I do not own? Could I give away your parents home? Only if I own it, right? This is basic logic, and would not even be worth mentioning if we weren't so afraid of owning our weaknesses.

How can you give away your shortcomings if you don't have any? You cannot, but the problem is that ... you certainly DO have them even if you repress them or deny it. Everyone has weaknesses, but only those that own their weaknesses are able to disown them.

So, what happens to you when someone says that you are stupid? Do you resist it, or do you own it? Are they really speaking a falsehood? Does God look at you and say, "Whoa, hear is a beacon of understanding and intelligence!" ?

I have been called many names. Part of me wants to retreat in the darkness of a mask, and project an exterior that is more flattering then the one that the criticism assigns to me. But, the spiritual walk makes no allowance for self-preservation and even reputation. In truth, there has not been a critic that has come close to describing my utter bankruptcy. I do act apathetic, demeaning, people-pleasing, and superior minded much more then anyone has yet to bring to light. I can betray, gossip, lie, justify wickedness much more then anyone has yet to alledge. I know the depravity of which I am capable, and that I need infusion of God's life to do anything unselfish, and to do anything out of love. Even to simply be honest, or to even shut my mouth.

When I am weak, then God's strength comes into it's own in me. When I am strong, then I fall.

Maturity brings one thing in a believer that the carnal do not have: humility about their weaknesses, resulting in the total lack of defensiveness. The weak cannot defend anything, and so they are defended by Another.

Next time someone says that you aren't smart. Own it, and reply by telling them that you are really a complete idiot.
Aren't you?
Besides how do you expect to rid yourself of anything that you won't own up to as a weakness?

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. 10That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
2 Corinthians 12:9-11 (New International Version)