Power

“Speak, your servant is listening” 1 Samuel 3:10

As men we grow and change, learning the traditional rules taught in our society; rules of manly behavior. We must learn to be strong. Learn to face our fears. Learn to strive for success and learn to reject signs of weakness. Those signs manifest themselves in showing our emotions, seeming weak, failing to grab hold of what is ours and wrestling it away from any other contenders. Men are supposed to be formidable foes!

But as Christian men, we must re-learn our manly roles and follow the true manly example, Jesus Christ, who broke the mold of manliness by becoming a servant-leader when He said, “Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” ~Matthew 20:26-28

Another rugged example of a man was the apostle Paul who described himself in Romans 1:1 as, “Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus”.

Later, in 2 Corinthians 12:8-10 Paul describes a situation common to all of us, he is asking God to take away a nagging problem that frustrates him greatly. God’s answer is surprising: “Three different times I begged the Lord to take it away. Each time he said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me. That’s why I take pleasure in my weaknesses, and in the insults, hardships, persecutions, and troubles that I suffer for Christ. For when I am weak, then I am strong.”

God’s answer and Pauls subsequent explanation are total opposites of how we all handle our problems and expect God to rescue us. Often, we secretly expect our Heavenly Father to quickly and lovingly step in and demolish our problems, dust us off and smooth out the road ahead. After all, He is the God who wants to bless us and make life easier. Or so we may think.

The apostle Peter joins Paul in clarifying our position in Christ in 1 Peter 5:5-7: “In the same way, you who are younger must accept the authority of the elders. And all of you, dress yourselves in humility as you relate to one another, for “God apposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time He will lift you up in honor. Give all your worries and cares to God, for He cares about you.”

In the Gospel of John, Jesus says: “Those who care nothing for their life in this world will keep it for eternity. Anyone who wants to serve Me must follow Me, because My servants must be where I am. And the Father will honor anyone who serves Me.” John 12:25-26

Trusting God to guide our lives, save our souls and reserve a place with Him in eternity requires faith and obedience. It also requires that we give up our areas of strength so He can work through our weakness as described by Paul in 1 Corinthians: “When I first came to you, dear brothers and sisters, I didn’t use lofty words and impressive wisdom to tell you God’s secret plan. For I decided that while I was with you I would forget everything except Jesus Christ, the one who was crucified. I came to you in weakness—timid and trembling.” 1 Corinthians 2:1-3

It is difficult for us to intentionally walk in weakness, trusting God to give the strength we need. We’ve spent many years attempting to work out whatever problems come our way. But God wants us to give that up and trust in Him because His power works best through our weakness.

Although believers in Christ have been regenerated, given a fresh start in life, have become new creations, and are totally forgiven of sins, we can still cling to feelings of guilt and failure, as though the blood of Jesus didn’t include some of our sins. How could it have, we think, since we continue to struggle with past sins? My deeds seem as fresh and ugly today as they did when I committed them. If I was forgiven, why do I still struggle with being cleansed?

We refuse to accept His forgiveness because we still feel so bad. The tragedy however, is not how we feel, but that we deny His cleansing and forgiveness. We cut short His loving and forgiving hand stretched out in love and healing to us. Basically, we are saying something like: “I don’t deserve your forgiveness. My sin was so bad I do not deserve your grace and mercy.” Doesn’t sound so good when you read the words does it?

I have searched and searched but cannot find a verse that says, “I have forgiven all your sins, except for these…” As our loving Lord and Savior Jesus was breathing his final few breaths he said, “Father forgive them for they do not know what they are doing. Well, except for those guys over there. They knew exactly what they were doing and cannot be forgiven!” Of course He did not say the part in italics. His forgiveness included all sins. Everywhere. For everyone. As we repent and ask forgiveness, Jesus forgives. He washes us clean with His blood that poured down Calvary’s cross and flowed across the centuries to include our sins.

It’s time to release the baggage of past sins and accept the total forgiveness of Jesus Christ. If we hang on to our guilt, we are calling Him a liar and saying His death on the cross was not good enough. His blood cleanses all mankind of their sins. That is, if we choose to accept His atoning gift. Forget the past. Accept His total forgiveness and walk in your miraculous new life so you can share His love, mercy and peace with everyone.

Philippians 3:10-14 “I want to know Christ and experience the mighty power that raised him from the dead. I want to suffer with him, sharing in his death, so that one way or another I will experience the resurrection from the dead!

 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.”

Luke 9:62  But Jesus told him, “Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.” According to Believer’s Bible Commentary: The expression, fit for the Kingdom, does not refer to salvation but to service in the kingdom after entering it through faith in Jesus Christ. And the NLT Study Bible adds, “The ancient farmer guided a light plow with his left hand and his oxen with the right. Looking away would turn the plow out of its path. For a believer, looking back meant placing earthly concerns ahead of God.”

1 John 1:8-9 “If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.”

Romans 8:33-34 “Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? No one—for God himself has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.”