Want to be weak?
Now that most of us have had a long weekend and gotten some rest and recreation, how about a strong dose of medicine to start the shorter work week? Here goes:
God teaches us in the school of suffering. One of the key, if not the most important lessons we learn is to rely on God. For most of us this is a lifelong learning experience. The virtue of Hope lives in our total reliance on God and total abandonment to His will. Failure is one of the important tools God uses to teach us to rely on Him alone, and not on our own efforts.
It's definitely not the sort of message you'll hear from most "personal development" literature or any of the "gurus" out there who claim that we'll be successful if we follow their advice. But the point is to rely on God, not on them. Not even on ourselves.
Now, relying on God doesn't mean we won't get stronger, or that there's anything wrong with being stronger. But real strength comes from Him, not from our efforts. The fact is, we are weak and need Him to get us to be strong. Relying on ourselves is ultimately a dead end.
If you think you're just being weak by relying on someone else, just remember we're talking about God here. The point is to glory in our weakness that Christ might dwell in us. So it's not to make us or keep us weak and dependent. In the end, it's to bring us closer to Christ. That's what we all want, isn't it?
God teaches us in the school of suffering. One of the key, if not the most important lessons we learn is to rely on God. For most of us this is a lifelong learning experience. The virtue of Hope lives in our total reliance on God and total abandonment to His will. Failure is one of the important tools God uses to teach us to rely on Him alone, and not on our own efforts.
It's definitely not the sort of message you'll hear from most "personal development" literature or any of the "gurus" out there who claim that we'll be successful if we follow their advice. But the point is to rely on God, not on them. Not even on ourselves.
Now, relying on God doesn't mean we won't get stronger, or that there's anything wrong with being stronger. But real strength comes from Him, not from our efforts. The fact is, we are weak and need Him to get us to be strong. Relying on ourselves is ultimately a dead end.
If you think you're just being weak by relying on someone else, just remember we're talking about God here. The point is to glory in our weakness that Christ might dwell in us. So it's not to make us or keep us weak and dependent. In the end, it's to bring us closer to Christ. That's what we all want, isn't it?
Comments