Why are we so prone to do things in our strength? Well, maybe I should say, why am I--me, myself, and selfish, prideful I--so prone to attempting to do things in my own puny strength? Well, I think I've already answered that question: pride, self-absorption, and unconsciously assuming that I know best and can do best (even though I absolutely know I can't). Sometimes it can even be a simple result of haste and hurry. In this busy multitasking, twitter, microwave age, we just want to get it done... and get it done now, as quickly and efficiently as possible. But hurry never fosters dependence upon the Word. Haste never encourages prayer and seeking the Lord's will and way. Love--of the Lord and of His people--never flourishes in mad hustling and struggling to do it all by ourselves.
And what's inevitably the result of our rushing and rigidly doing things in our strength rather than in the power of Almighty God? Every single time, I can sadly testify, we'll experience burnout. Discouragement. Exhaustion. Worry. Fretfulness. All such wonderful and productive emotions, n'est pas?!
Seriously, how much has your sleeplessness and anxiety produced at 3:00 in the morning? How many people have been blessed or encouraged by your exhaustion or burnout? What wonderful solutions to impossible problems have you come up with while overwhelmed with worry or rushing around like a maniac? How have we increasingly demonstrated Christlikeness when we are frantic or rigidly self-reliant? I think I know the answer to those questions.
We cannot do it in our own strength. Ask Paul. "For I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate." (Rom.7:5) Amen! This is one we've all got down pat, isn't it? We want to do better, we plan to do better, we intend to do better... but we do what we hate. Again and again. Sigh.
But here's the good news: "But He said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is make 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 when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Cor. 12:9-10)
We can't do it--never could, never can, never ever will--but He is mighty in our weakness and He is always always always able. And He's able to do abundantly beyond, far far beyond, all that we could even begin to dream up in our wildest dreams (good old Ephesians 3:20-21, two of my favorite verses in the Scriptures!) It's another one of those strange but glorious dichotomies in God's Kingdom: the way up is the way down; the path of exaltation is the path of servanthood; the last will be the first; and our weaknesses can actually display the glory of His strength like a diamond sparkling against black velvet.
As John the Baptist declared, "He must increase, but I must decrease." (John 3:30) More and more of Him, less and less of me. More and more of His strength and less and less of my self-sufficiency. More of His Holy Spirit, less of my fleshly efforts. And the result will be more and more joy and peace and power and glory in Him and less and less worry and exhaustion and discouragement.
I love the way William Temple illustrated this concept using Shakespeare:
"It is no good giving me a play like "Hamlet" or "King Lear," and telling me to write a play like that. Shakespeare could it it; I can't.
And it is no good showing me a life like the life of Jesus and telling me to live a life like that. Jesus could do it; I can't.
But if the genius of Shakespeare could come and live in me, then I could write plays like his.
And if the Spirit of Jesus could come and live in me, then I could live a life like His."
O praise God, we cannot even begin to do it on our own... but if He lives in you, then declare with joy and certainty: "I can do all things through Him who strengthens me." (Phil. 4:13) His life lived out in you. His power to overcome sin in you. His peace and His patience in you. His joy and His love and His kindness in you. Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Col.1:27)
So live in Him and by Him and through Him. Allow your weakness to be the means by which His strength is displayed in your life today. Give His Spirit full reign in your life this day and begin to live increasingly a life like His. To our Savior, who not only showed us the way, and made the way, but who is The Way, The Truth, and The Life, be the glory forever.
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