Strength is the weakness - Devotion for 6/11/07

Strength is the weakness – Devotion for 6/11/07

Back when I was in seminary at Duke I served as a Student Pastor, and in the midst of my studies, and in the midst of my serving the church, my wife and I also became parents – twice. Needless to say, my time was very, very limited as I had many things to always do. Having to come up with a sermon each week was something new for me, but I found it was something that was not very difficult for me to do. After all, I grew up hearing my dad preach every Sunday, I pretty much knew what to do. I felt I had a real knack for public speaking, and whenever I did one of those spiritual gifts inventory tests it showed that preaching was one of my strong suits. So when time became crunched between visiting members, writing papers, changing diapers, and writing sermons, I would usually sacrifice time spent on writing sermons. I bragged to my colleagues at school that I had developed the “Adam Seate 5/15 Rule” – 5 minutes of preparation would result in 15 minutes of speaking. Now I knew that the 5/15 rule was truly an exaggeration (who me?), but I felt pretty confident in my own ability. Eventually, however, I had the opportunity to go back and listen to some of those 5/15 sermons, and I found the notes that I had made for them, and I came to realize something – they were terrible! I was so embarrassed by what I had been doing and saying, and yet all along I had thought I was doing a splendid job. What I eventually realized was that I had begun to rely on my own ability and I had actually left God out of the whole process. What was my strength had turned into my weakness, because I no longer felt I had to rely on God to give me the words. I soon learned it was more important to rely on God as my strength.

I was reminded of this personal struggle this morning as I read from Luke 18:18-30, where the rich man asks Jesus “What shall I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus reminds him of the commandments, and the man replies that he has done all of those things since he was a child, and you sort of get the impression that he might have replied to Jesus with a little bit of a pompous attitude. So then Jesus hits him with this bombshell: “One thing you still lack; sell all that you possess and distribute it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me” (Luke 18:22). We are then told that the dude became quite sad, because he was very rich. We all the time hear this passage talked about in the sense of the love of money, and we hear about the need to be generous with our gifts, and (insert sermon subject here that you have heard before on this passage). But this morning it sort of hit me in a different way. This guy seems to have led a decent life. This guy seems to have succeeded in whatever he did as he was a ruler, magistrate, or some kind of authority figure (translation of the word is most often “ruler,” but also means magistrate, authority, or prince – so what he actually did is uncertain). By all accounts, he probably could have been a worthy and respected representative of Christ. But the one thing he lacked was a need. He had everything he needed, so he didn’t really have a “need” for Jesus. So to create that need/trust relationship, Jesus told him to sell everything, give it to the poor, and follow Him.

Sometimes we forget how much we need Jesus. We surely remember when a need arises, such as a loved one who is deathly ill, or such as at time where we are awaiting some important news. Those moments we remember how much we need Jesus. But when we are strong and things are going the way we want, we forget that need. We rely on our strength, and do not even think about having to trust Jesus. The problem is our strength can become our weakness. Today, remember that no matter how strong we may be, Christ calls us to acknowledge our weakness before Him. The things Christ can do with our strengths and our weaknesses will amaze, for “The things that are impossible with people are possible with God” (Luke 18:27).