Unflappable

In the book I’m reading one of the characters says “money is power.” In the city I live in the candidates who won yesterday’s civic elections say votes gave them power. The newspaper article I just read was about the power of hurricanes. In some families, mom has all the power, or dad, or the kids. The point is, power is different things to different people.

In Colossians 1:11-12, Paul prayed that Christians would be “strengthened with all might, according to His glorious power, for all patience and longsuffering with joy; giving thanks to the Father who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light.”

No doubt “His glorious power” has many different meanings too. Some suppose the power of God is His ability to create and destroy. Others might think it is His sovereign control, or His ability to change hearts. Some pray that God will bring them health, wealth and total happiness, indicating that His power is about granting them whatever they ask.

In these verses from Colossians, Paul offers a different definition. He puts power in the same category as “patience,” “longsuffering with joy” and “giving thanks.” Many people think that these things have nothing to do with power, but God’s Word says otherwise.

My study Bible says patience has to do with enduring difficult circumstances, while longsuffering is more about enduring difficult people. Sometimes both happen at the same time, but anyone who suffers trials of any sort knows the impossibility of being joyful and thankful during those trials. I know I cannot manage it. Even at the best of times, it’s easy to find something to be unhappy about or to grumble. God asks me to “count it all joy” (James 1:2-4) when my world falls apart, but sometimes I have trouble being joyful when all things are going well!

The power of God is about being like God. Christians inherit His nature. The Holy Spirit lives in us to give us godliness, yet godliness is not about having power as defined by the dictionary; it is about having power as defined by the character of God.

Whatever life hands me today, God wants me to respond to it in His power, meaning that I will be patient, enduring, joyful and thankful—whether my day is creative or the wheels fall off; whether I see God changing my world or I feel He is absent; whether I see change in myself and others or backsliding; whether I get richer or poorer, stronger or weaker, happier or sadder. If God answers my prayers or does not, living in His power means that I am patient and joyful, the same, all the time.

About a year ago, I selected a word as my goal. The word was “unflappable.” Every now and then God reminds me that the only way I can reach this target is through Him. Today He shows me that only His awesome and surprising power can keep me the same, all the time, unflappable.