Weakness part 2
I can remember pretty clearly when I gave up on religion. I was sitting in a pew, and the preacher was all fired up about how we have to "act like Jesus." How, "He's our example and we have to follow in His foot steps." And I remember thinking, "I can barely handle being me. There's no way I can be Jesus." And then I learned about grace. About how it's not what I do, but who I am that defines me. Who I am in Christ. Who Christ is in me. And that's when I got out of religion and into relationship. Religion--man centered, performance based, hoops that you have to jump through in order to "get" something we already have... in order to earn something that was freely given--does it's best to hide weakness. Or, at the very least, to shine the spotlight on someone else's weakness so your own don't look so bad. Jesus kind of sums it up in Luke 18:11-12, "The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee, that I am not ass other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice a week, I give tithes of all that I possess." That religious attitude of, "I'm better than you because I go to church three times a week and I pray for four hours every day and that makes me holy." (Real quick: There's nothing wrong with going to church or with praying. The problem is when you think of those things as a way to earn something.) It's the mindset of making someone else feel small so you can feel big. But look at what Jesus followed up verse 12 with: "And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner." This is the attitude that John was looking for when he wrote about those that claim they have no sin are liars. He was looking for the understanding that we can't do this life on our own. That we need (or, in light of the Finished Work, needed) a savior. This is why Paul said, "...Most gladly therefore will I rather glorify in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me" (2 Corinthians 12:9). It's not about you. It's about Jesus. It's not about YOU living HIS life. Nobody can live Jesus' life except Jesus. It's about Jesus living His own life in and through and as you. And I think we're really gonna hit this idea tomorrow, but it's not about God loving you "in spite of your weakness." It's about God loving you BECAUSE of your weakness. Think about it... who gave you that weakness? God did. It doesn't surprise Him, and it doesn't scare Him. His strength is made perfect in your weakness. When you come to the place where you can admit, "I can't," that's when God has room to say, "I can, and will, and already did!" So rather than pretending we don't have weakness, or trying to hide it behind our religious calisthenics, we can stop trying so hard to be somebody we're not and we can start resting in the truth of who we really are! We can stop trying to get something, and we can simply share what we already have. We can't stop hiding ourselves and we can embrace ourselves--and each other!