The Power of Weakness

". . .Whoever wants to be first must be slave of all. For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many." ~ Mark 10:44-46

"But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." ~ 2 Corinthians 12:9


God's ways really aren't our ways. We talk about authority, and Jesus talks about serving. We want to have political power so that we can make things right; he makes us of no account that we might see him make things right. We want to be strong that we can help, and he makes us weak that we might be powerful. We take pride in our accomplishments that we might praise him with our efforts; he allows major failure that people might see him. We bask in our purity that we might bear witness to his dominion; he allows us to sin and shows us the sin that we might bear witness to his grace. We really do think that helplessness is a liability. It may be if you are a soldier, a policeman, or a teacher, but in spiritual matters just the opposite is true.

When you read the Gospels, you find that Jesus never refused help to the helpless, that he never refused forgiveness to the sinners, that he never turned away from the unfit. The people Jesus didn't seem to care about - no, the people who really "ticked" him off - were the secure, the strong, the pure, and the self-righteous.

- Approaching God, Steve Brown