No One is Weak

Strength is praised. Strength is honored. Strength is respected. Strength is loved.

Those who have it are idolized and worshiped. What is it? It could be physical strength, it could be smarts and ingenuity, or a raw determination driving one relentlessly onward in spite of setbacks.

But what of those who have none of these?

They are obviously the losers. The idiots. The flawed and imperfect. Those who didn't make enough of the right choices. Those who just couldn't be winners even when they tried. Those who have no place in the world. Because success belongs only to the best.

Weakness is despised. Weakness is scorned. Weakness is mocked. Weakness is even hated.

Weakness is pushed around, scapegoated, looked down on, shunned. To some, it's the biggest crime there ever was. No one wants it around. No one wants to be it either. But there it is, all around us and within us.

The world presents to us this twisted choice – force yourself above your circumstances, or just end your life. Because those without the will to press on deserve death, I suppose.

But there is another choice.

Either you can join the throngs in their rat race for power and control – or you can enter the narrow path of love and peace.

The beast inside us screams for justice. It can't take humiliation, it can't take being falsely accused, or misjudged. Above all, it can't admit its own weaknesses. But when the beast is let loose, and you fight tooth and claw for your own dignity, you lose what dignity you had. If the beast loses the fight you are humiliated tenfold. If the beast wins the fight you become nothing more than the monster you believed your accusers to be, feeding the endless cycle of crushing and being crushed. When the beast is loosed, someone will always have to suffer.

Leave it be. Let the proud destroy themselves, as they will sooner or later. Suffer the humiliation, admit to yourself your own shortcomings. Then recall the words of Jesus,

“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God,”

“Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”

“Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”

Jesus, we are told by the apostle Paul, was 'beset with weakness.' He grew weary at times, he was overcome often by emotion, and we are even told he was tempted. Weakness in the Bible is portrayed as human limitations, such as sickness or physical challenges, and temptation is the pull to give in to forces that would overcome you, such as tiredness or pleasing distractions.

“See not that you fall into temptation,” he told his drowsy disciples when they were supposed to keep watch. “For the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

Yet while Jesus never gave in to temptation, he still suffered from human weakness, being fully human even as he was fully God. The difference between his and ours, however, is that he chose it. He chose to give up his Godly power and dignity. He chose to put himself at the mercy of his enemies. He let them falsely accuse him and sentence him to death. He let them nail him to a cross. He accepted death, and gave up his spirit. He rendered himself helpless – and in doing so conquered not Rome, but Death itself, rising from the dead at the last.

What does this show us about the truth of strength? That it is a gift both given and taken by God, to be used in his name rather than in the name of self-conceit, because he created us and is master of Life and Death.

What does this show us about weakness? That we must accept the challenges God has thrown our way, and remember that if we don't lose heart, we will reap in due season (Galatians 6:9). That for those who endure, God has prepared the crown of life (James 1:12). Because those who praise strength more than they praise God will someday die and disappear, but God will always exist.

So what do we do in the meantime?

Remember that everyone has been given gifts, that there exists not Strength, but strengths, in all forms and in any area, because we are a diverse and complimentary community.

Romans 12:6-8: “We have different gifts, according to the grace given to each of us. If your gift is prophesying, then prophesy in accordance with your faith; if it is serving, then serve; if it is teaching, then teach; if it is to encourage, then give encouragement; if it is giving, then give generously; if it is to lead, do it diligently; if it is to show mercy, do it cheerfully.”

Don't believe anyone who tells you you're weak. Even if we can't do what someone else can, we all have our own strengths, even if you or they can't see it at the moment. As Jesus commanded, be kind to your enemies, and serve them out of love, not in fear and without resentment. Without fear, because while man can harm and kill the body, God can throw both the soul and the body into hell. Without resentment, because it's the sick who need a physician, not the healthy. Those who don't know the power of love need someone to show it to them.

You don't know where your own strength lies? Seek and you will find. Pray about it, and remember you're a human being made in God's image.

Your own strength is in you, just waiting to be realized.

Love's Ultimate Test

The reality of evil is a contradiction to the belief in a God who is both sovereign and good.

Or so people say.

But there is another dilemma.

If God is not both good and all-powerful, true justice can never be realized.

Why is that?

Because if good is not all-powerful, evil might win.

How can a good but limited God save us if the Devil gets the upper hand?

How can a good but limited God protect us when the demons slip past the angel defenses and drag helpless people down to their hellish holds?

How can a good but limited God ensure that at the end of all things evil will fall and goodness will shine into eternity?

How can a good but limited God heal all wounds?

He can't. Because the evil is just as strong as he is.

Perhaps in the end, if we're not lucky, cruelty and violence and sadism will win, and darkness and despair will reign after all.

And why not, since whether you serve goodness or evil it's all up to whichever side you feel like? Someone who feeds the children, or someone who mutilates them – just pick the style that thrills you.

But if good is all-powerful, evil beware. Do as you please for now, but you are destined to burn in the fires of righteous fury.

Evil may reign for a time, but ultimately can never win.

Where are the innocents who were taken from us? They are in paradise with God.

Where will all our pain go? One day we will shed it like an old garment and forget it in our eternal joy.

Where is all our guilt and regret? It is nailed to the Cross.

Then the question remains. Why has God allowed evil to reign over our world?

Because only in a world where love seems distant and foolish can it truly prove its depths and power.

Only the once abandoned can know the joy of being found.

Only the wounded can know the value of being whole.

Only if God let us wander and sink to a place of unimaginable darkness and denial could he show us how much he loved us in coming to our help.

He knew it would be painful for us.

But what we don't imagine is how painful it must be to him, if he loves us so much, to see us suffer.

It is a journey God knew that he and the human race must take together, in order for their relationship to be what it was meant to be.

The God of the Bible is not distant and cold. He is a God who weeps for his children, who burns at betrayal, who laughs at his enemies, who charges in with fury when those he loves are in trouble.

He is a God who came down and became like us, so he could suffer as we might suffer, so he could be punished for us even though he had done nothing wrong, in order to redeem us who have done wrong, because he loved us still the same.

Could this have happened if evil had never existed? But only because it exists can we come to experience just how great is God's love for us.

Are you in pain or in tears? God is there with you, hurting and weeping at your side.

Is he powerful enough to change things in a flash? Yes he is. But he chose not to help us this way, but to allow pain to enter into our lives and our hearts as well as his own heart, in order that our love may grow deeper and fuller and richer than it ever could had he fixed everything to begin with.

Are you mad at God for not sparing a loved one from an untimely death? For not fixing your life? For not taking away your hurt and frustration?

Or do you love him for suffering with and even for us? For loving us even when it seems no one else should? For standing with us even when we turn our backs on him?

Hate can only consume you, eat up your soul, and send you to your death.

Only by choosing love can life start anew.

Only by choosing trust can peace truly be gained.

Do we have enough reason to trust? In Jesus we have more than enough.

Linking up with #ThoughtProvokingThursday

Bleeding Soul

Spears pierce my mind, and my soul bleeds.

We are told we can do anything if we set our minds to it. Believe in yourself and you can accomplish the impossible.

But the walls of my prison are rock-solid. They cannot be broken no matter how much I pound and push - and they are closing in.

Some people are born with strength. They press on through life, fall, but get up again and keep going. I have no such power. My arms shrivel, my heart grows weak.

Confidence is dangerous for me. A little more, and I hurt myself.

My heart calls – my mind does not respond. My brain beckons – my body does not heed. I face the future with determination – but can barely take one step.

Daggers pierce my mind, my soul bleeds.

We are taught to stand up for what we believe. Our beliefs are a part of us. But I am knocked down before I can even rise, again and again. And every time a bloated ego marches triumphant from the site of my defeat.

Perhaps it was only defense. Perhaps they were aware of my own fangs, and that was why they sawed them off. I can't blame them. Perhaps this was for the best.

But knowing this doesn't ease the pain, and the scars throb until they numb.

I never wanted to see them writhe. I never wanted to drive them into the dirt. I just wanted them to see.

Perhaps I was confused. But my feelings were real. It's the tragedy of any argument that one must always walk away the loser – though both sides may be right about some things while wrong about others.

But the greatest tragedy of all is that some hearts may never be reconciled. They reach for one another, but a black void lies between – a rift in reality, a crack in the continuum, forever open, never to be sewed back together.

I want to believe it can be bridged. I want to believe that if I can let my talents sing, swelling in a great symphony at the top of the world for all the universe to hear, that one day you would feel the joy I felt, humming along with the tune that so moved me. And maybe I could understand you better.

But it may be my fate only to find myself one day languishing on my face, with the time and the strength only to etch the words “I wish” in the dirt before I succumb to my final sleep. Such is the way the cards could fall.

Thorns pierce my mind, my soul bleeds.

I cry out to God. He doesn't listen. “Why have you forsaken me?”

Was it because my sins were too bad? Perhaps I just can't be forgiven, perhaps I have crucified Christ one too many times.

Do I have to believe that just yet? Perhaps "it is no longer I who do it, but sin dwelling in me."

“Your God will not answer, because he does not exist,” you say. But I will not comply with your pessimism, your sick excuse for hedonism and self-worship. I know where my hope lies, and as long as I live I'll trust in that hope.

I don't know what's to be my end. Perhaps my dreams are too incompatible with the ways of Jesus. Perhaps my views are too idealistic to stand up to the scrutiny of true Biblical faith.

But I will keep waiting, praying, listening, looking – and maybe some day my dead soul will rediscover life, and the spears, daggers and thorns will stop.

And I will fly once again.

The Dark Truth and the Radiant Truth

wallpaperswide.com

It's nothing new to say that the world we live in is messed up – but that's the problem.

We wish or perhaps even dare to believe that life could be a fairy tale for anyone if they just have the right perspective – but every day the truth grows less and less flexible, and with every perspective added it takes form piece by piece into exactly the hard, cold, unfeeling lump of rock we first took it to be.

The truth is not always pretty.

The arts and the media reflect the current feelings of the human race. They abound with sorrow, superficiality, anger, elusive portrayals of justice, and pride going hand-in-hand with hollow egos. Some have merely resigned to the darkness and embraced it, deciding to milk what fun they can out of life in spite of its horrors before resigning themselves to fate. Perhaps it's all they believe they can do.

What manner of world is it? A place where broken families are the norm, disease and pain are commonplace, relationships are fun but short, where the weak always fall prey to the stronger or smarter with or without morals, and violence and killing happen somewhere every day. The damage is mountainous and often irreparable. Under it all we sense something is very wrong. Deep within us we hear a voice that is often stifled but is ever constant, which finds its way into our wording, “This is not the way it's supposed to be.”

No, this is not the way it's supposed to be.

Even though we are told to shut up, accept it, and make the best of it, we are still left with that cold feeling. What we do to amuse ourselves, all that we indulge in to drown our sorrows, it minimizes the pain but it never heals. Beneath it all we want that peace. We want to find the light that shines in the darkness – but the only light we find is a will-o-the-wisp, gone even as we reach for it.

I won't accept it. I will not resign myself to the notion that the darkness is all there really is. And you know something? I don't have to.

Nothing I believe can change the harsh realities – but with Jesus in the picture, I can make sense of them.

What was it that drove them?

What was it that made the early Christians sing and find joy in spite of imprisonment and torture? 

What caused them to hold to the name of Jesus even to the point of painful death?

It was hope.

Not a blind hope, not wishful thinking – but the conviction that Jesus rose from the dead, conquering death, showing that life was not as lost a cause as the world seemed to think, not with him. In him they found an eternal family. With him they saw justice, and also forgiveness. To him the wicked and the oppressor would ultimately answer for their crimes. In his light, the darkness of the world seemed like merely a shadow before dawn – it became the superficial thing, having lost all its power to control and convince them, for it was doomed to disappear, to be replaced by a new heaven and earth – a world no longer messed up, but where everything will be made right again.

Is broken the way our world is supposed to be? No. Does it have the final say? Not on your life. In the light of Jesus, its threats become empty. It can inflict pain and take away our comfort, but it can never command us again. It is dead.

The life in Christ is the only reality now that matters.

Many have claimed to find peace and happiness through one means or another – but only Jesus went through the ultimate sorrow and torture, crossed to the other side, then came back to show us that he is indeed life itself, giving us assurance beyond doubt that it could be found. Darkness, struggle, and death are ever present in this world – but for those who believe, it's lost its sting. We have been freed.

all-free-download.com

A Foolish Faith?

Why do I so strongly want God to be real?

Because without God we would be alone. With only our limited power. At the mercy of greater human powers and the elements. With no hope beyond death.

bestwallpaperhd.com

The atheist is free from God. Free to do anything he wants. But he is also vulnerable. Vulnerable to the merciless quirks of a universe governed by chance. His success lasts no longer than his luck – and when it runs out his paradise crumbles. Death is ultimately his final sentence.

But why the God of the Bible? Why Jehovah and Jesus? Why would I accept Jehovah's seemingly harsh nature in the Old Testament even if it makes me uncomfortable? Why would I accept what Jesus teaches about Hell?

Because of their mercy and long-suffering. Jehovah gave his people protection and prosperity. Jesus taught us to love our enemies and be good to those who hate us. Divine judgment is only for those who will never accept Jehovah as God and Jesus as his son even after they come to know them, because they prefer their fantasies. Mercy is for the humble heart that knows it is sinful, that it is creation and not Creator, and whose deepest desire is for redemption and transformation.

Why would I think the accounts in the Bible any less legendary in nature than Greek or Chinese or Norse mythology?

The sincerity of the authors? The authenticity of the Apostles' letters albeit the bizarre claims therein? The admission by their enemies and the unbelievers of Jesus' existence despite their skepticism of his claims? The testimony of writers who claimed to be eyewitnesses and companions of Jesus, well within an area they knew it could be verified? The closeness of the testimony to the time of the events they talk about? The witness of those who followed after them in the following centuries and millenniums even unto death?

If so, could miracles really happen? Could Jesus truly have worked wonders and rose from the dead, even if people who heard it were skeptical, and even if we do not see such things happen today? I would not rule out the possibility.

The world of skyscrapers and iPhones insists the answer is no. If we lived in a world where such tech did not exist, however, perhaps our perspective would change. Technological advancements change nothing concerning God's existence – we have only fooled ourselves into thinking so.

imagebase.net

Finally, as an independent testimony should not the Biblical documents be understood on their own terms rather than doctored up and re-interpreted to fit one consensus or another? Should not God be allowed his own voice no matter how radical or politically incorrect? Perhaps if we would let the radical nature and politically-incorrectness in, we would understand something about ourselves and the world we never could before.

Perhaps, as the Bible claims, we would understand how much better it is to be slaves of Christ than kings of this world. Because God's slaves are better off than royalty by the world's standards, and have a treasure far greater than any rich man could hope for. The treasure Jesus brought when he gave up his rights, when he emptied himself and made himself nothing, taking on the form of a servant, making the ultimate sacrifice, which in the end caused him to be exalted above every other name.

Greedy for Goodness

It's not wrong to want to be a good person. For some reason though, we tell ourselves it is. It's not wrong to desire life. For some reason though, we tell ourselves it's selfish. All we have really done is denied something crucial to our very existence.

It is wrong to pat yourself on the back and become conceited from a small deed, but does that mean it's right to deny yourself the pleasure that comes with doing good? We should of course help people because we feel their pain and cry their tears, not for keeping up a good appearance. However when we do things to help people, there comes this feeling – as if there is a voice inside us saying 'this is good' and 'this is what I was made to do.' It a feeling of deep fulfillment. It is perfectly natural, and we do ourselves an injustice when we suppress it.

Why shouldn't we feel happy about doing what is right? Yet sometimes we neglect to do what is right because we don't want to risk feeling too prideful in that feeling, and the good we could have done never happens – all because of a far bigger pride. I have no doubt when I say Satan has conducted this clever scheme to keep the good we might bring to the world locked away.

Suppress that lie. Be the hero you've always wanted to be.

There is also another lie, and it is one Christians sometimes fall for. In the past I frequently have asked myself the question, “Do I really love God, or do I just love the things he gives me?” I knew Jesus died for us, and bought us eternal life, but I wasn't sure whether I really loved him, or only what his sacrifice granted us.

But why do we give gifts? Why is there so much joy in both the giving and the getting at Christmas time, for example?

Because a gift, given with a sincere heart, is a special thing.

It's a way of saying “I love you.”

Imagine what it would be like if someone received a present, observed it – and threw it out the window, saying, “I shouldn't accept your gift because I don't want to be greedy.”

Imagine the hurt in the giver's heart. Their act of love was deliberately rejected, and not in a heart of actual humility. It was, in fact, the rejection of a heart swelled with pride that eclipses that of the more honest kind of arrogance.

While it is possible for someone to love the gift and not the giver, the danger of false humility should not be overlooked. We should not respond to God's gifts this way. Jesus suffered and shed his blood, gave us the gift of eternal life, an “I love you” message that reverberates throughout history – and we ought not to say we're not good enough to accept it. How can that be right?

As the apostle wrote, we love him because he first loved us, and Jesus' sacrifice showed us just how much he did. He was willing to take our punishment. He was willing to suffer what we should have suffered.

It is not wrong for the receiver of a gift to be endeared toward the giver. The giving and getting of gifts is a love language. Don't say, “I am not worthy of salvation because I want it too much.” God created us to desire life. He wants us to find joy in the life he gives us – because, like a loving father with his child, our joy is his joy. Our happy smiles make him smile.

I realized I do love God. He reached out to me when I was lonely. He gave me a gift greater than any I could have wished for. He became a constant father, brother, friend. My life is in his hands, his love for me will never die, and in that knowledge I can have peace that no matter where I am headed he is with me, guiding my steps and forgiving my mistakes.

Is it wrong to love him for what he has done for me? No.

It would be wrong not to.

This Phenomenon We Live In

downloadswallpapers.com

The World.

It spins energetically, it thrives, it thinks, it hurts.

But we don't notice.

It laughs, it cries, it jests, it questions.

But we don't notice.

Why is it here? Why does it ponder, play, and feel?

We don't care. We are too busy.

What keeps our attention?

What are we after that keeps us from pondering our existence?

We don't know. All we know is we want it and are going to get it no matter what.

It is a struggle – a race against time, a war against space.

It is only I, my enemies, and my goals. I know of nothing else.

Are we not blinding ourselves?

Is it so ridiculous to think we are each part of a greater story,

A story much broader than our private realities dared allow?

Perhaps it's time to stop lying to ourselves,

Perhaps it's time to embrace the existence we keep running from,

And be what we were created to be,

More than hungry beasts,

More than indifferent apes,

But children of the God whose image we bear,

Creations of the Creator who brought about this phenomenon,

This mysterious, wondrous phenomenon we call Planet Earth.

jesus-photos-pictures.blogspot.com