Foolishness and Weakness

I had some things to share about our weaknesses today but this verse from 1 Corinthians says it all:

1Corinthians 1:25-31

Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men. For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption—that, as it is written, “HE WHO GLORIES, LET HIM GLORY IN THE LORD.”

Offense / Defense

I hope you don’t mind if I get a bit sporty. There’s an adage that says, sometimes the best defense is a strong offense. This can be true in well defined games.

Regrettably this saying is frequently how we conduct our interactions with each other. We’re far too often quick to pick up an offense which causes us to get defensive and many times even offensive. To stave off getting wounded we wound, to avoid a no, we manipulate and to keep people from getting to close, we pretend.

What if we could love our offenders so much they couldn’t hurt us? What if we knew for certain how special we are to God that we never had to be on the defensive? What if we were so honest about our flaws to people that their love for us grew deep? I know this is possible for us, it sounds very much like Jesus. It also sounds a whole lot like the people I know that spend a bunch of time with Him.

Weakness

Scripture says that God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty. Why then are we so afraid of our weaknesses? Why is it so easy to find and point out the weaknesses of those around us in order to feign might? If we will grasp the truth of God’s unique love for us, how because it is completely different from His love for anyone else we can put aside our insecurities and stop trying to elevate ourselves by comparison to others. If we could see ourselves as well as others, the way God sees us, what a wonderful world it would be.

Reign

Here’s another word from Romans 6:12, it means to be in power or in control. Who has the power in your life? Who’s in control? If the answer is another person, you’re in trouble. If the answer is “I do” then you’re only in slightly less of a mess than if it’s someone else. God is the one with all the power, we are not. We prove it daily yet have trouble recognizing it frequently. I wonder if we are reluctant to admit and turn our weaknesses over to Him because we are afraid we’ll have to become someone completely different? That’s not what He has in mind. He wants to share His power with us. His goal is not to control us; He loves who we are right now. He just wants to come along side and help with our struggles just as much as He wants to celebrate the success.

Let

Romans 6:12 has five words in the middle of it (four if you use a contraction) that read “do not let sin reign”. The little word “let” indicates that we have a say in the matter, which is really great news unless we believe it means we have the power over sin and all we need to do to conquer it is try harder. What we have the ability to “let” is to let God have our sin. It’s only in coming to Him and placing the things we struggle with in His hands that we are able to overcome for real. Sure we may be able to will power a temporary behavior change but true healing comes when we place our weaknesses with Him and trust enough to leave them there.

Difficult

We all have people in our lives that are difficult to love, maybe even hard to like, they zig when we zag and we can’t seem to ever be on the same page. The reasons are varied but if you dig deep enough you’ll usually find insecurity at the root and it’s typical to find incompatible insecurity on both sides of the rub. These relationships can be the ones that miracles are found in. As we get closer to God, become more like Him, our compassion for those that are different or difficult increases. We get better at seeing the wonderful things about people; we recognize the weaknesses in others as being not different than our own and our hearts change. I’ve seen these types of relationships become some of the richest.

Get Real

Genuine intimacy only happens when we are willing to be real with each other. This is especially true in our relationship with God. We have to come to him in our weakness and insecurity. Putting on an artificial “life is always grand” front only keeps the Lord and others at arms length. We needn’t be afraid to take everything to Him. Even when we are mad as hell He’s able to take it. It’s much better for us to take our anger and frustration to God than to take it out on those we love. If we’ll be real it will strengthen our relationship and help increase our ability to trust.

Black or White

The world is not monochromatic. Seldom in life are the choices we’re confronted with so cut and dried or so easily identified. The good news for us is that ours is the God that places power in weakness, wisdom in simplicity and glory in humility. He is the God who overcomes death with life. With Him there is always more than meets the eye. When we choose to see things as either black or white we miss out on the reds, blues, greens, oranges and all the other colors He’s given us. As we learn to see through His eyes, there is beauty all around.

Wounded

We’ve all been wounded; it’s part of life. We live in an imperfect world filled with flawed people, not the least of which is I. As we mentioned yesterday, being aware that we are no better than those around us allows us to have the heart of God towards people but we have to present our weakness to Him. It’s the same with our wounds. A wound kept from the Lord only hardens our heart and like our hidden flaws, keeps others at a distance. Hurt and pain turned over to God brings healing and permits us to be used in the healing of others.

Weakness

God’s strength is made perfect in our weakness. When we humbly give our weakness to Him it transforms us into people with compassion for others. When we are aware of our shortcomings it frees us to see beyond the faults of those around us. It’s common for us to try to hide our weakness by amplifying the flaws of others, which only closes us off from God and the people He wants us to love. But people not afraid to share their weaknesses are a demonstration of His power.