The gospel is a paradox in many a sense, and here is but one dramatic example. There is a strength we rely on that is a key disadvantage. This is the bad news that runs cross grain to the good news. But we are to be assured, the good news is always good news. The good news is God doesn’t need us strong.
Here is a key question our lives-by-our-choices
answer every moment:
Where do we place our reliance?
This is our greatest problem. We
place our reliance on anything but
God. It’s our human undertaking, our default, driven by our sinful nature.
Christians are past masters at
trusting in every little Christian
thing — including the church — in favour of trusting God. Traditional forms of
reliance other than God are popularity, status, reputation, assets, money,
personality, eloquence in prayer, the influence we have, our Christianese, how
wise we are, the ‘goals’ we have kicked for Jesus, and the friends we have in high
or strategic places. The list is inexhaustible. Reliance on any of these is futility.
For pastors, it’s the churches we
have pastored, our skills in communications/preaching/pastoral care, the
Christian personalities we know, our networks, our biblical and theological
prowess (knowledge puffs up![1]),
the converts and baptisms and members we have notched into our belt, the books
we own, have read or have written, the weddings and funerals we have performed.
Again, the list is inexhaustible. Reliance
on any of these is futility.
The salvation of Jesus is no good
to us if we don’t trust Him. And we must trust Him continually. Sure, we may be
saved, but Jesus also saves us from
our idols of reliance on things other than Him. We need Jesus all the time.
What is the character of this
strength that bears itself as spiritual disadvantage? Exclusivity and exclusion
is weakness whilst being excluded while being inclusive is real spiritual strength;
i.e. being disadvantaged is an advantage in the Kingdom of God. Set yourself
apart as elite and it thwarts you. Claim anything as your prize and the prize
in heaven vanishes. Prove you know this or that and you claim your worthless vice
as a prize. It is a poor choice indeed to select what humanity values, which is
temporary, over what God values, which is eternal.
But we do this kind of spiritual
posturing all the time.
Now, about
loss…
We should never besmirch the
reality of loss that casts us deep into God-reliance.
But we do. It is understandable. We
rail against it. Until we are broken enough.
Indeed, loss heaves us into the
blustering waves of grief so frequently, day after harrowing day I mean, we
have many opportunities to learn the same thing, the same lesson. That is the
purpose of loss; it teaches us what we cannot learn otherwise — that God is
great and awesome, that life is beyond our control, and these two facts in unison
are a banquet of truth for our hearts to absorb. It’s going to take time. It must.
These are horrendous truths to absorb for any human being.
Loss is designed to break the
chains of our reliance on everything that does not work. We soon realise these
appendages don’t work. So we reach higher, recognising that it is God alone who
can and does help. Still it takes time to realise this and practice it.
What we must realise in loss is that
we must lose everything we value first before we can truly value God. Is this
any black-n-white reality? No, there are shades of grey. I mean, who loses
everything? But we can feel as if we’re
losing it all.
What we cannot understand here on
earth is a rich possession sown up in heaven. This is what we must believe to
work out our faith. Experience earth-shattering loss, endure that cavernously
awkward space, and our reward will not be taken from us.
***
Heaven
help us when we are so well equipped to rely on others or anything apart from
God.
As
soon as we do recover from loss, and that is usually a process of years, we end
up retreating into the same disadvantage as long ago — our strength lying,
again, in the things of the world.
Lord,
be merciful enough to take away every scaffold of dependence on any other thing
than You!
Do
I live this, myself personally? Not enough. Not nearly enough.
So,
help me, Lord Jesus, to identify these idols of reliance in my life and rid myself of them, one moment and one iteration at a time.
***
The
beatitudes of Jesus reveal His upside-down kingdom. Strength in the world’s
terms is disadvantage in His kingdom. Being happily weak shows great strength.
Just don’t expect the world to understand. We, ourselves, do not understand,
unless by faith we choose to see as Jesus sees.
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