In the mornings, I go to the gym and feel my weakness. My body protests and tells me that it has limits. Strain as I might, there are some things I simply cannot do, so why do I still go? Through weakness, I am made strong.
Have you ever felt your own inadequacy? No one likes to be weak. We are good at covering over our failures with a strong exterior. We find ways to look capable, intelligent, beautiful, happy, even though we feel painfully our own inability to measure up.
Often we feel the weakness of our own faith. We hear around us stories of the “power of faith” or we are told “just have faith” but we wonder if we have what it takes. We struggle with doubt, and we can’t imagine that God would be pleased with such puny faith. Perhaps we try to speak the right words and go to church and look like we have strong faith, but inside, our faith muscles feel like jelly.
But what if faith did not depend on us?
In Romans 1:16, Paul tells us, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes…” The gospel is the power of God, and what is that gospel? It is the gospel of a God who took on weakness so that the weak may become strong. It is God experiencing shame to take away our shame. It is Jesus on a cross, dying, so that life—new life—could happen.
I remember once playing at the pool as a seven-year-old when I did not yet know how to swim. I was in the water floating on an inner tube, watching others splash around me, when somehow I found myself slipping. It seemed to happen in slow motion—I was aware of what was happening but had no power to stop it. I ended up under the water and felt myself sinking. Before I had a chance to panic, strong arms came around me, and the next moment I was out of the water, sitting on firm concrete at the side of the pool. A woman had seen and rescued me.
Instead of feeling grateful, I was embarrassed. I wanted to hide and was afraid to look her in the eyes. She had witnessed my moment of weakness.
Do we do that with Jesus? Do we do that with the gospel? We want to have our own strong faith. We want to come to Jesus on our own two feet. We feel embarrassed about our own neediness. But there are some things we simply cannot do, and that, precisely, is the power of the gospel. We are helpless and he rescued us. We need not be ashamed.
I am not ashamed of the gospel. Through weakness, I am made strong.
The Christian Journal, January 2020