Friday, February 19, 2016

THE POWER OF GOD THAT WE WISH WASN'T TRUE

The power of God is perfected in weakness (II Cor. 12:9) is what I had stamped in gold on the front of my Bible some 35 years ago.  This amazing truth endures the ages as one of the greatest secrets I ever could have imagined....yet I have so often wished it wasn't true.

I wanted power to be in other traits and then....I wanted all of them in me.  The deep desire to be rich, influential, or powerful due to personal skills, political pull in the church, and magic fame owned me.  My goal was to be a somebody.

But, truth be told, I was none of these.  What's worse is that I was the opposite.  But when I read that Corinthian text (and believed it), my world transformed into a dream. If power was perfected in weakness, then I must be an entire one-man Power Plant!

If weakness equals power...yippee!!  I have some!!  We have some!!  No, we have lots!!

So here's what I've learned through experience.  The only way the Kingdom of God will click in our personal walk is to believe and accept the reality that in order to be a somebody we must believe we are a nobody.  However, this idea causes immediate heartburn to those who might be selfishly ambitious.

But, oh my, what hope!  What a unique window of possibility for the thousands of us that wish we could make a difference; yet find our inner inventory quite lacking.  What a new drive when the very thing, personal weakness, is discovered to be the fuel that drives the effective engine of imagination, outreach, and accomplishment.

My advice?  Don't fight it.  And please don't try to redirect it.  Let weakness do its intended design; impact the entire world for the good.  We aren't in life to make a name for ourselves.  No.  We are living to honor the name of Jesus.


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