Choosing Weakness?

Power!  We live in the NFL football age when everyone gets excited about a powerful fullback who can crush through the hefty defensive line.  We admire power and speed.  Nobody wants to be the 97-pound weakling.

In almost total contrast, Jesus in the sermon on the mount lays out the foundation for the kingdom of God.  Significantly all the keys to life He gives suggest laying your life down and trusting God to supernaturally reward and empower you.  However, rather than laying down your life in death, you are called to live with a surrender style by doing such things as pray, fast, give, serve, and yes, even bless and love your enemies.

Notice that each of these practices allow you to lay down your life by giving of your time, effort, feelings, thoughts, and strong sentiments.  Each of these demand you choose the position of weakness.  In prayer, you pour out your heart and cry out to God, choosing the attitude of weakness that God has to do it, you can't.  In fasting, you deliberately let your body energy get weak and trust God to enable you through increasing your spiritual relationship and depending on His strength.  In giving, you deliberately decrease your financial resources trusting that God sees and will reward you.  In serving, you give or lose your own time and effort to help someone else, while your own desired use of the time is denied.  And finally, in loving your enemies, you have to override your thoughts and sentiments toward the one who wronged you and deliberately bless the other person in obedience to the Lord's instruction.  You make youurself weak.  God becomes your strength.

A person would be a fool to deliberately become weak and get run over by the other guy, unless God said to do it and He backed up His Word with action.

Jesus started His public ministry by laying out these simple attitudes and practices to point out that the kingdom of God is the exact opposite of fallen human nature's desires.  The weakness principle can also be summarized by Jesus' words, "he who loses his life for my sake shall find it." The question is "Do you believe that enough to actually do the very things He stated as a step of faith that you know He will do His part?"

Choosing weakness isn't weak.  It is the wisdom and power of God put into action.  Praise God forever for giving us the way to life and the power to live supernaturally on this earth!