“I’m going to write on something other than our reading today. I’m sitting here in my office, drinking a cup of coffee and reading my Bible. At the same time my heart is hurting for this church. It is during tough times that you see the character of a person. When things go well, we tend to have good attitudes; however, when things are difficult our true colors will shine through. I want to point us to a part of scripture that Paul talks about his time of weakness. In 2 Corinthians 12:9-10 he writes, “But he said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in my weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” What Paul is saying is that he is strongest when he’s at his weakest because he is relying on God’s strength, not his own.”
“Don’t you think that should be our attitude as well? Rejoice in budget cuts? YES!!!! Rejoice in having no pastor? YES!!!!! Rejoice in people leaving the church? YES!!!! Do I believe that at this moment our church is boasting in our weaknesses? No I don’t. Why can Paul do it and we can’t? The truth is we can do exactly what Paul is doing. Our attitude can be the same as Paul’s. The reason it’s not is because we don’t believe God’s grace is sufficient. For the most part we are a church who can talk about God, but we have no idea who He is. We are a people who wallow in our weakness instead of a people who rejoice in it. We have become people who pray because we are in trouble, but we failed to seek God when things were going well. I’ve heard a number of people say that “we need God to intervene so that we can get back to where we used to be.” MAYBE GOD ALREADY INTERVENED BECAUSE HE DOESN’T WANT US TO BE WHAT WE USED TO BE…Just maybe God wants us to be weak…. Maybe God wants our weakness so that we no longer rely on our own strength in abilities, but instead Christ’s power rests on us.”
“Do we want to be a strong, healthy church? I do. If so, we need to embrace the fact that we are weak, because when we are weak, we are strong. If people want to leave because of hardships, God bless them, God has something in store for those who stick it out, those of us who aren’t ashamed of our inability, but who are confident in God’s ability. We do need God to rescue us as a church, but it’s not from finances or anything else. We need God to rescue us from ourselves. When we move out of God’s way we will see amazing things happen. We are seeing amazing things happen now in certain areas of this church. We have potential of being a great church. I don’t mean a big church or a wealthy church, but a great church. Great churches are churches who are focused on God and God alone, who are constantly in the community serving those around them, who are humble enough to admit their inadequacies and allow God’s power to carry them. Do we want to be that? I hope so.” (From “Daily Connection Journal” Shane Collins)
I do have one problem with this journal entry…I didn’t write it.
May God bless Grace & allow us to be worthy of His blessings.
Vern
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