Koby Bryant was not the only famous person who died at a young age in 2020. Chadwick Boseman, the celebrated actor, died at the age of forty-three. He had been fighting colon cancer since 2016.
Although I have enjoyed some of Boseman’s movies, especially his role as Marvel’s Black Panther character, it was after his death that I had a deeper appreciation for him as a human being.
Most people didn’t know Chadwick Boseman was sick. He hid it. No one watches Black Panther burst onto the screen in Avengers Infinity Wars and sees a dying man. The studio creating the epic superhero movies didn’t even know he was sick.
During his leading role in the Black Panther movie, Chadwick Boseman was already battling cancer. Marvel chief Kevin Feige got an email from Boseman about his condition only hours before Boseman’s death.[2] Feige didn’t even get a chance to read the email before it was announced that Boseman had passed.
Boseman’s legacy, one of great acting, generosity, and a symbol of Black Power, is magnified because he didn’t let his health issues get in the way. He fought bravely and quietly.
Many of us would likely have taken time off, done less, moaned more, and wished we had been dealt a different hand. Instead, Chadwick Boseman continued.
If Chadwick Boseman had given up when he first got sick, he’d never have done the Black Panther movies, which with Boseman, inspired an entire generation.
Paul, the author of many New Testament books, had an ailment when he wrote his most significant works.
In 2nd Corinthians Paul tells the church,
I was given the gift of a handicap to keep me in constant touch with my limitations…
At first I didn’t think of it as a gift, and begged God to remove it. Three times I did that, and then he told me,
My grace is enough; it’s all you need. My strength comes into its own in your weakness.
-2nd Corinthians 12:7-10 (MSG)
God is made great in our weakness. The same way Paul had a physical limitation, a sickness, temptation, or as some translations call it a “thorn in my side,” we too can allow God to use us because of our weakness, not despite our weakness.
God’s message is more incredible when He uses imperfect people. He is glorified through our failures because He shows that He can use the silliest of us to do amazing things.
In Paul’s previous letter to the church, he wrote,
But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.
– 1st Corinthians 1:27 (NIV)
Just like how Chadwick Boseman’s legacy is made better by his sickness, so too is God made great by using us, weaknesses and all, to accomplish His plan.
If you are looking for more devotions that are relevant to your life and fun to read. You can check out the rest of the book that this chapter came from. It is called “God is Like 2020.”
