J.I. Packer On the Importance of Weakness

Today, strength is applauded while weakness is seen as a defect. For the Christian, this should be the other way around.

Having collided with a bread truck as a child and receiving brain surgery that left him with an indented skull, the late J.I. Packer (Knowing God) is well acquainted with weakness and frailty. In this conversation he tells how this shaped his life and led him to depend on Christ for strength. Throughout, he debunks the myth of self-sufficiency, laying out a path for us to follow from discouragement to freedom in light of our all-sufficient God.

J.I. Packer went home to be with the Lord in 2020. This conversation was originally recorded for the Haven Today radio broadcast in 2013. The message of Christ’s power being made perfect in our weakness is just as true today as it was then.

And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (2 Cor. 12:9)

Interview Highlight

Going Deeper

• Read Charles Morris’ blog on J.I. Packer following his death in 2020. There, you can also view a mini-documentary on Packer’s approach to the final chapter of his earthly life.
• See J.I. Packer in one of the last interviews he conducted in the documentary Puritan: All of Life to the Glory of God. 
• Watch the video featured in this blog where J.I. Packer discusses the need for Christian Unity.

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