Sunday thoughts: what to do with worldy strength?

I have thought and spoken much about the role of weakness in the Christian faith.  In 2 Corinthians, from which the title of this blog is derived, Paul talks much about weakness.  In Chapter 12 he goes on to talk about a thorn in [his] flesh, a messenger from Satan to torment [him] (2 Corinthians 12:7).  He then writes these famous words:

Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness"...For when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:8-10)

Many people have spoken, preached and written about weakness, pointing out that God often uses the weak to for his glory: from Moses who had killed a man and who shied away from public speaking, to Gideon's army that God himself whittled down to 300 by sending the rest away, to Mary - a teenage girl from Nazareth, an insignificant backwater.  There are many types of weakness depicted: moral, physical (e.g. illness) or situational (such as being from a less powerful social group or being financially poor).  And we know that God works through the weak to demonstrate his power, but also that it is often in times of weakness that we learn to depend on him.

And this has been my own experience.  For most of my Christian life I have been dealing with some kind of illness, with occasional periods of remission.  Persistent and recurring depression gave way to a 10-year battle against an autoimmune condition.  Granted, my weakness has not been complete - there are many who have suffered so much and I cannot possibly claim to walk in their shoes.  But my body has placed limitations on me - both practical and emotional, and both conditions have forced me to change how I value myself.   Because if we value ourselves according to what we can do, then what value will we have if we find ourselves incapacitated?  Weakness has forced me to view my own value as intrinsic - I am valuable because I am made by God and he loves me, nothing more and nothing less. 

And although I have often failed to live out that truth, beating myself up for failing to meet up to the standards I place on myself, I've come to realise how critically important it is.  And my experience has allowed me to stand in front of rooms of people dealing with depression and tell them that no matter how they feel about themselves and no matter what their lives look like, they are valuable and loved by God.

But now?  With the removal of my entire colon - swapping it for a stoma and ostomy bag, the healthier habits I am able to pursue as a result that we previously closed off to me, good antidepressants and the motivation to take them, and long practice at finding thinking patterns that are less harmful to my brain, I am the strongest and most able I have ever been in my adult life.  My body and brain work!  And as a result, I can get stuck into serving at church - teach the youth, put the chairs away at the end of the service, be friendly to newcomers and, the most wonderful thing of all, spend more time with God's word by writing this blog.  I do not credit myself for this - I am incredibly fortunate to have had successful surgery and to have found medication that works for me.  I'm also incredibly fortunate to be blessed with the socio-economic privileges that make life that little bit easier: steady and rewarding work and the financial stability it brings, family, lack of racial prejudice against me, and living in a country where I am free to practise my faith.

So as far as the world sees, I have 'everything going for me'.  But what does God say?  When the Israelites were poised ready to enter the promised land, God said to Moses:   When I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, the land I promised on oath to their ancestors, and when they eat their fill and thrive, they will turn to other gods and worship them, rejecting me and breaking my covenant. (Deuteronomy 31:20).  Am I at risk of becoming complacent?

And what do we do with the worldly strengths we have:  I haven't got it all figured out, but this week God prompted me to write about worldly strength, so here are a few thoughts.

-  Neither strength, nor weakness, solve the problem of the human heart.

Whilst we know that Paul suffered many hardships, he mentions material blessing too.  He says:

I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength. (Philippians 4:12-13, emphasis mine)

I would say that Paul's comment that he has learned contentment in both situations points to the fact that we already know: that it is possible to be discontent in either situation.  Discontentment is found in those who have plenty as well as those who have little - it is matter of the human heart.  And when we seek to find contentment in worldly strengths or riches, they will fail us.

(Just in case anyone takes this the wrong way, I want to point out here that the physical hunger experienced by the starving, to take an example, is not 'a problem of the heart'.  I do not wish to equal their very real need with the discontentment of the rich.  However the contentment Paul is talking about is not that of his stomach, but that of his spirit.  We must not deny a brother or sister what they need, saying 'you should be content in Christ', but at the same time Paul shows us that he has a contentment that runs deeper that is there even when his body cries out for sustenance.)

And so we must pray for contentment in times of plenty as well as times of want.  How can we do this?

-  Be thankful always.

The answer to the question above is wrapped up in thankfulness.  I recently heard someone say: 'what would you have if tomorrow you only woke up with the things that you had given God thanks for?'  It was a good and thought-provoking comment.  Of course in practice it doesn't have to mean listing through every thing we treasure each and every day - more important is the attitude of thankfulness we have.

Thankfulness takes nothing for granted - it knows that the blessings we have are God's to give and take away.  It does not think we are entitled, and therefore everything is a glorious gift which is undeserved. And it recognises that everything we have and do can be used to God's glory.  As Paul says:

And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. (Colossians 3:17)

-  We should chose weakness

We should not chose to punish ourselves.  The price has been paid by Jesus and to suggest that we need to add to that is to deny the power of the Cross and to throw his sufferings and sacrifice back in his face.  Nonetheless, we can chose to set aside our strengths, in the way of Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God,
    did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
    rather, he made himself nothing
    by taking the very nature of a servant,
    being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
    he humbled himself
    by becoming obedient to death—
    even death on a cross!
(Philippians 2:6-8)

Those with money should share it - choosing to live a modest lifestyle (whatever that means!).  We should not be trying to impress others with displays of our wealth, power or talents.  And by choosing Christ we are all, to some extent, choosing a way of weakness socially or politically as we may face criticism from others.  For most people in my country, the 'persecution' promised by Jesus is very mild, particularly compared with that of our brothers and sisters in other parts of the world - North Korea, Afghanistan, just to name a few.  Nonetheless, we face a risk of future difficulties, and of criticism here and now.

God places some of positions of earthly power - whether politics, business or wealth, but we should not fully grasp these things in order to fully realise their power (and their power over others).  It's not a perfect analogy, but I remember as a child play fighting with my brother who is 6 years younger than me.  I was obviously much stronger than him at the time, but I did not exert my whole strength.  I chose to be weaker than I was.

We are to love the Lord with all our strength (and all our hearts, minds and souls - Luke 10:27), but that love sometimes requires us to set that strength aside.

-  Finally, we are all weak and helpless before God.

Recognising systemic inequality and privilege has an important place in understanding the lives of others, but when it comes to our spiritual health, those worldly differences will fade into insignificant.  Indeed, when Jesus healed a man born blind in John 9, he used that man's earthly weakness (visual impairment in a seeing world that viewed him as inferior, rendering him to begging in order to scratch a living) to make a point about the spiritual disability and blindness of his hearers.

We can only come to Christ in weakness, acknowledging our brokenness.  We might be the person with the big house who is able to bless our church with garden parties, the gifted preacher or the organisational superhero who makes the office run smoothly, or the person with the amazing gift of being friendly and welcoming, not knowing the meaning of the word shy! Or we might be the harassed and exhausted young family for whom it is just an achievement to get to church, let alone get on the serving rotas or have the energy to speak to others, the person struggling with illness, or just completely ground down by life.  Whoever we are we still come before God, setting aside it all, to know the true strength of the Lord Jesus.  Will all face things we cannot do without God's help, we say the same words in the 'confession' part of our Sunday service, and we will all bow before him when he returns.