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How strong are you?
The world is really concerned about at least appearing strong if not actually being strong.
Physically, emotionally, as well as mentally you are challenged to get stronger and, by the way, here is a product that will help you achieve that strength in record time with no effort on your part! Available today only for the special price of $19.99!
Our heros are the winners who overcome incredible odds and win in spite of everything the enemy has to throw against them. Some of our favorite movies are the ones where the hero goes through this amazing mental and physical transformation to succeed in the battle they face. Rocky comes to mind as the model for many movies that followed after. The training scenes are motivational and show the intense desire that leads to intense effort that leads to a transformation that allows our hero to win in the end.
Not surprisingly many of us take this same approach to the spiritual life. If I am struggling it must be because I haven’t put in the hours yet. I need more time in the spiritual gym to build those spiritual muscles so I can defeat the sin in my life. One major flaw in this line of thinking. It isn’t anywhere close to what God has to say!
If you listen to me often you may think this is contradicting what I often say about putting time in reading God’s Word and applying effort to the spiritual life, but the focus is a little different. You don’t grow yourself, you allow God to grow you. You can’t defeat sin on your own no matter what you do. God has already won that battle for you. True spiritual strength is recognizing our weakness and inability to succeed on our own. Any efforts we put in should flow out of a knowledge that we desperately need God to work in us. I don’t read my Bible to gain spiritual insights to make me super spiritual and able to handle sin on my own, I dive into God’s Word to see more of the God who choose me and loves me in spite of my weakness.
God turns the whole idea of strength and weakness on its head. He chooses the weak and opposes the strong. Paul gives a good picture of the attitude we should have in 2 Corinthians 12. Paul realizes that his weakness is a gift from God, meant to help him maintain a proper perspective of life in Christ.
2 Cor. 12: 7And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. 8Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. 9And 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. 10Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
Weakness is the perfect vehicle to display God’s strength. When we are strong we may be tempted to rely on our own abilities and turn away from God or boast about what we have accomplished. In our weakness, we see god at work everywhere, keeping us upright in the world and using us to accomplish His work.
God chooses not the mighty but the weak, and when they show their dependence on Him by attempting the impossible as He leads them forward, God gets all the glory. The story is told of a report who went to one of DL Moody’s meetings in England. He reported that there was nothing he could see that could account for the marvelous work that was seen as a result of Moody’s preaching. Moody was shown the article and replied, “Why that is the very secret of the movement. There is nothing in it that can explain it but the power of God. The work is God’s, not mine.”
So how strong are you? When considered in light of God’s work in and through us, that is really the wrong question isn’t it? The real question is how strong is God! With that fully answered and convinced in your own heart and mind, there is nothing you need to fear when you are following in Jesus’ footsteps. Because when you are at your weakest, He is able to reveal His strength in it’s fullest.
Pursue God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and trust in His strength to keep you going until the day He calls you home.
Keep running in His strength!