Our Greatest Strength You seal up the sum. To whom do the above descriptions from Scripture refer? Jesus? Ponder that a moment. These are not simply idle claims by Satan about himself. God made those statements. Roll them around in your head and think about the implications. Shocking, isn’t it? The whole idea has sobered me. As new creations and believers in Christ, we have tremendous spiritual beauty. All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are available to us through Jesus. We are whole, completes, rich beyond measure. We have everything we need for life and godliness and the mind of Christ. That is only the beginning! However, like Satan, we also have tremendous potential for pride and glory. He began full, beautiful, perfect and wise. He had everything…except the humility and weakness required to safely handle his position. Look at some of the other things God said about Satan: You think that you think like God. Do you realize how susceptible to pride we are? God said it was because of Satan’s wealth and beauty that he became so proud and destructive. In the same way, our spiritual wealth and beauty holds great potential for pride and destruction. So is this some trick from God? The very things that bless us also curse us! Our strength is a weakness! The spiritual beauty, the riches, and the wisdom we have are our most dangerous hindrances to the kingdom. Is it any wonder Jesus said it is easier for a camel to pass through a needles’ eye, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God? It would be easy to feel betrayed by God, but this is no trick. Yes, pride is our enemy and we need deliverance and rescue from it. In the beauty of our holiness we are susceptible to lifted up hearts, and ultimately to destruction. But God has made a way…weakness. Weakness is our protection. Satan did not have a path of brokenness, suffering, and weakness to keep him low and humble. The result will be his final destruction. Wealth without weakness is a deadly combination — literally — both for ourselves and those around us. But, be encouraged! Our weakness is also our strength. Just as Satan, our adversary, is the ultimate embodiment and expression of pride, Jesus is the supreme embodiment and expression of humility and love. God is not some arrogant glory-monger who demands attention and worship. He is not selfishly possessive in protecting His glory from us. When God says he will not give His glory to another, He is not afraid of losing His Kingdom to us; He is guarding against losing us to our kingdoms. Satan is the prime example of where glory, beauty, wisdom, discernment, splendor, and perfection can take us. The extent of the danger we face is displayed by the enemy. God in His mercy desires to protect us from destruction, and therefore, MUST give us weakness as the antidote to the pride that would cause our ultimate downfall. He knows the final outcome, and in His great mercy He provides what we need in order to protect us from going there. Being kept safe is for OUR sake, not for God’s. It’s out of love that God shelters and shields us from the danger of glory. Like Paul, we can praise God for our weakness. For the good of ourselves and those around us, we desperately need it. It is our greatest strength and our only protection from destruction in the midst of remarkable spiritual beauty. Weakness is for our benefit! Yes, it seems completely backward to our expectations, and it takes having our minds renewed before we fully accept it. We have been told to fight weakness, lack, and neediness in order to pursue strength, provision, wholeness, and resources. But that pursuit is at our own expense! Jesus, as the ultimate expression of love, will conquer all. Satan, the ultimate expression of pride, will be completely conquered and destroyed. The battle is not between good and evil. Those were both found on the same tree in the Garden. The battle is between life and death, God’s glory and our glory. Praise the Lord, He has given us all we need to choose life! But let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am Jehovah, doing kindness, justice and righteousness in the earth; for I delight in these, says Jehovah. (Jeremiah 9:24) Scripture references: Genesis 2:9 |
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