Strength in weakness

 

According to the National Hole-in-One Association, the odds of this perfect hit are about 12,000 to 1 for most golfers, with 3000 to 1 for pros. Tiger Woods has had 20. If those numbers are intimidating to a golfer, some sources say that only 59% of Christians share their faith and less than 95% have ever led someone to Christ. In other words, the odds of doing this are higher than the odds of hitting a hole-in-one. 

This is tough news for anyone with a perfectionist streak. A pastor once said, “Anything worth doing is worth doing poorly” and I understand that now more than when first hearing it. I’ve known people who are so determined to do well that they will not undertake activities in which they cannot excel. For them, it is perfection or don’t do it.

This demand for being at the top happened in high school. I did well and soon my peers jeered me if I didn’t get 100% in pop quizzes. I soon felt like a failure if I didn’t succeed and that feeling, plus pride, made life challenging. Part of the challenge is that not everything can be measured by a percentage grade.

Consider Jesus answer to this question: What is the greatest commandment? 

And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. (Matthew 22:37–39)

How does one measure love? Jesus also said we are to love others as God loved us? Does that mean I die on a cross for them? Or meet all their needs? Or understand their very thoughts? Doing well in this department is impossible to gauge like golf shots or pop quizzes. How do I know if I have loved adequately? By the reactions of others? By how take my advice? By their thankfulness? 

Apart from affirmation by the Holy Spirit, there is no way of knowing when love is 100% or any percent. It is the same with obedience. Human desire can mess with honest evaluation. Perfection can be motivated by pride or the desire for power and who knows what else. These thoughts point me to this passage that clarifies what God means by perfection:

On behalf of this man I will boast, but on my own behalf I will not boast, except of my weaknesses— though if I should wish to boast, I would not be a fool, for I would be speaking the truth; but I refrain from it, so that no one may think more of me than he sees in me or hears from me. So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Corinthians 12:5–10)

Paul had all the skill and background needed to be a major leader in the early church. But God would not let him be proud of himself. He gave him a thorn, wisely not defined. Whatever it was, God left it there to keep this incredible man from human perfectionism. The only way he could do what God wanted was to be weak, unable, useless without the power of Christ. 
Personally, I know this. Rejoicing in weakness is part of hitting a hole-in-one when it comes to obedience. If I am aware that I cannot ‘score’ and rely on Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit, then I know He will do His work through me, and I might not even see the scoreboard, only hear a tiny bit of heavenly cheering — maybe.

Failing is no fun. Feeling helpless is no fun either, but unless I welcome it instead of trying in my own strength, failure is guaranteed. The perfection I desire is found only in Christ, and to have it means saying no to all else. 

PRAY: Jesus, the past few days have been a huge test of who I will trust, for forgiveness and redemption, but also for the decisions of everyday life, and for the ability that You give, even in weakness and hardships. The choice is always me or You, and when plainly put, the decision is really a no-brainer. Forgive me for forgetting, and for feeling sorry for myself that I cannot do anything without You. That also misses the mark! Amen. 

The Bottom Line

 

Our pastor has a little girl who wants to be certain of everything. He tells her what his parents told him, “It’s okay; the adults are taking care of everything.” He used this to illustrate how the desire of every person is to know that things are being taken care of, adding how we often try to do it ourselves. But we fail. We cannot control much — only God can and does. When we rest in that knowledge, our hearts are calm, and we know what it means to abide in Christ (John 15).

Today’s devotional begins with a similar thought: God always empowers you to do what He commands you to do. We need not be uncertain about anything for our heavenly Father gives us all we need to do all He wants us to do.

 . . . walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy . . .  (Colossians 1:10–11)

The alternative to being strong in His power is spiritual instability. This is described as “children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.” (Ephesians 4:14) Or the lack of moral purity, or driven by emotions such as fear rather than sound thinking, or all of the above. Instead of seeking God’s solutions, He is replaced by therapists and psychologists, pills and alcohol, grumbling and a deep sense of failure. Even those who properly answer Sunday School questions can live without the enabling of our sovereign, all-powerful God.

The obvious diagnosis is disobedience, yet it can be a different issue. Spiritual growth comes in stages and one of those is realizing helplessness. If I think ‘I can handle this’ I will not rely on God’s enabling. He must show me that my confidence is misplaced, and He can do that by pulling back and letting me find out the hard way.

Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure. (Philippians 2:12–13)

This is clear: it is God who works in me . . . not just to work for Him but to want to rely on Him, to will or desire His good pleasure. If I think I can do it, I will go ahead without prayer, without a sense of needing the power of Christ. That leads to failure, yet experiencing failure a few times might be enough to convince stubborn sinners such as myself that I must rely on Him. This is one reason God does not choose many capable people — those who are skilled take longer to train than those who have less confidence in themselves.

For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. (1 Corinthians 1:26–29)

Sometimes people say, “I have no patience for that” without realizing by experiencing “that” (whatever it is) God will teach them patience. Trials do that:

Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2–4)

Being joyful in trials may seem impossible. Learning patience in trials sounds more doable. This takes time, but trials do change our lives — simply because God uses them to show us that He is with us no matter what, using the struggle for our good, and thus enabling us to abide in Him when the next one comes along.

Spiritual stability is desirable. The devotional describes it as having biblical responses that are thoughtful, not worldly, emotional, or uncontrolled. It is being able to bear up under the stresses of life because of a deeper understanding of God’s purposes.

Lord Jesus, most of my Christian life has been characterized by spiritual instability until I realized You allowed the trials to train me to abide in You. This ‘education’ was not much fun, but the joy that comes with each ‘graduation’ makes the next step a delight rather than a fear. Thank You for encouraging me that the very best is yet to come — when I see You face to face then I will be like You (1 John 3:1-3.)

MORE: Read and reread Psalm 18. What does it say about God and about my trials? What did David learn from the many trials he faced?