A Powerful Wimp

When I used to pump iron like a maniac, I loved talking about my bench press, leg squat and shoulder press stats.

In other words I was a typical young jerk, openly bragging about how much weight I could toss around, which is an irritating habit lots of boys have. Boasting about your strong points goes well with immaturity. I’d crow “I can press this much weight”, and the other guy would say “Prove it!”, and the contest of egos was on.

But some boasting’s OK, even good. I hope my maturity has grown alongside my age, and I now have a different, much better boast which goes something like this:

I’m so darned proud of what I can’t do, and what I therefore can do, because of what’s being done in me. In fact, despite no longer slinging heavy weights and running four miles daily, I can actually do all things, through Christ who strengthens me.

I know that’s used in a bumper-sticker kind of way these days, and Paul said it centuries before I did, (Philippians 4:13) but I borrow it freely. It fits me better, carrying so much more redemptive value. And yet, as in earlier days, the hearer has every right to say, “Prove it.”

Pics or it Didn’t Happen

Now that’s something to consider. Saying I can do all things through Him begs for a challenge.

To say we are born again, with the spirit and resurrection power of Christ within us, is to be audacious, bold, even a little scandalous, because it asserts that we’re different. It’s also a daring claim that our capacities are unlimited. So in response to such a boast some non-believers will, as Herod did, childishly hope for a magic trick as a show of divine empowerment. (Luke 23:8) Jesus Himself denied the request; obviously, we’ll do the same.

But there are other ways His power shows itself in us, ways that are convincing and convicting, ways a non-believer can relate to, leading him to reconsider the Gospel. When we allow God to work in and through our weakness,
miracles happen.

Been There, Conquered That

I know, because I’m a satisfied customer. When He called me to live a chaste life, I felt like I was in no different a position than Peter was when Jesus said “Step out of the boat and take a stroll with me on the water.” Impossible, yet he obeyed. For me, sexual responsibility seemed equally impossible, yet I obeyed. (There’s your first miracle, Herod!) And, lo and behold, as a formerly promiscuous man, I walked in celibacy on the waters for three years before marrying.

When He blessed me with a wife He also commanded monogamy, something I used to jokingly say you sprayed with Pledge. Yet here we are, monogamous after 29 years, enjoying a longer stroll atop the waters.

On a day to day basis, I’d say the same for His call to patience, diligence, kindness under pressure, and grace under fire. All of them require what’s impossible for me; all of them, when accomplished, give me extraordinary bragging rights. Not about myself, lest lightening strike, but about the Empowerer, the One who makes it all happen, in whom I can boast because He makes it happen in me.

Hopefully Terminal

But there’s a catch. The area He shows His power in is invariably an area of myself He calls me to first die to. No bargaining there. Where there’s no death, there’s no resurrection. So just as I paid my dues in the gym slinging weights and screaming my guts out, I now scream them out wrestling with Him as He, my loving but stern personal trainer, gets in my face during my daily workouts and says “Die, Monster, Die!” until I finally, after countless stupid excuses and rebellions, say “Uncle. I can’t be patient, loving, or holy on my own, yet You demand it. So take over. Flex Your bicep, Dad.”

And my, what a show follows! Paul said it better than I ever could:

Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (II Corinthians 12:9)

There’s the boast of a powerful wimp, one I hope I’ll always be able make. Because I find I’m strong only in the parts of myself I’ve died to, and weak in the areas still un-surrendered. And overriding it all, secure in the patience and grace of the Coach who never gives up on fashioning this vessel into something of value.

So I’m still boasting, I guess. But now when I crow, I can say with integrity, “You wouldn’t believe how much I can NOT do! And yet you also wouldn’t believe how much I can. Let me explain …”