Be powerless

Given the title, I think it is safe to say any chances I had at motivational speaking are now over. People will not look approvingly upon how viewing ourselves as powerless can be one of the best things we for us. But then again, my aim has never been to motivate people so I should have no problem sleeping at night.

Why would I rejoice in, let alone consider, the idea of being powerless. The reality rests in the fact that powerless is exactly what we are. It is what God's Word (both the Bible and Christ) states as our condition.

"...for apart from me you can do nothing" ~John 15:5

Now here is where the debate begins over what exactly the "nothing" refers to in this verse. True, Christ is talking about our ability to bear fruit of eternal value. Without the working of the Spirit because of what Christ did on the cross, we are incapable of bearing fruit. This is clear throughout Scripture such as Jeremiah's comparison of our righteousness to filthy rags or Paul's rehashing of Old Testament prophets in Romans about no one being righteous. We need Christ to redeem our filth for His glory because all of our attempts have failed miserably.

However, the deeper reality of this verse is that we really can't do anything apart from Christ. John makes is very clear in the first few verses of his gospel that Christ took an active role in creation. He takes it one step further by declaring all creation would cease to exist if Christ was removed from the picture. Apart from Christ (both believers and the lost) nothing is possible. The breath of every living thing is utterly dependent upon Him. We are at His mercy every single moment of every single day. And what should our response be to our dependence upon Christ for both physical and spiritual life? How should we react to our vulnerability and complete powerlessness?

Amen!

Wait, Amen? In a world where I am told to harness the strength existing deep inside of me, how can I embrace my call to be powerless? The answer lies in four humbling verses from the prophet Isaiah to the leaders of Israel,

Shall the axe boast over him who hews it,

or the saw magnify itself against him who wields it?

As if a rod should wield him who lifts it,

or as if a staff should lift him who is not wood! ~Isaiah 10:15

God created us to be the tools, not the ones who use them. Because of this, power only comes to us when we are in His hands. We are only useful as we allow Him to wield us as He wills. Otherwise we are as powerful and useful as a hammer hanging in the shed. Sure, it may look nice and flashy, but it is nothing more than decoration. As we succumb to our pride, we echo the sentiment of the hanging hammer. We are still the climax of God's creation, made in His image, but we have no ability to experience what a image bearer was really created for. Our pride has no power to take us off the shelf in order to start hitting some nails. That can only happen when we humble ourselves enough to let God pick us up and be the one to start swinging. For one, it is what He originally created us for. It also guarantees we will never miss the mark.

Our call is to stop listening to the self-esteem psychobabble our world eats up. I have seen its effects in my classroom. As things start to go well, I listen in to convince myself of how well I am doing, and my head swells with "positive self-esteem." According the God's Word, self esteem is nothing more than pride shed in a positive light (talk about an oxymoron). He has graciously taught me this the hard way. As soon as my head starts to swell, he quickly puts me back on the shelf where I find out exactly how "well" I do there. It's His way of reminder me that self-esteem is disgusting, while Christ-esteem is glorious.