I Am Able
For the word of the cross is foolishness to those being lost, but to us being saved it is the power of God. 1 Corinthians 1:18
Power – Does life come at you in waves? Sometimes the waves are gentle, comforting, buoying you above the deep. At other times, life seems like an endless pounding surf, the kind that knocks you off your feet and drags you out to sea. If you have ever been caught in a rip tide, you know the helpless feeling. Nothing you do can prevent you from being pulled into deeper, darker waters.
A friend confided, “I couldn’t sleep at all last night. I had an overwhelming panic attack. It seemed like everything that I am responsible for was falling apart.” I told him that sometimes God pulls back the curtain so we can see the real world, the one where spiritual battles rage over the souls of men. Sometimes God lets us just catch a glimpse of how fragile and dependent we really are. It’s a sort of self-sufficiency correction maneuver. God shows us our dependence, but in that moment, the devil rushes in, saying, “You see! Nothing is working. You’re life hangs by a thread. You can’t do it. You’re nothing but a miserable sinner, filled with failure and disgrace. You might as well give up.”
“Why,” my friend asked, “does God let us go through those moments of panic?” So that we will understand His grace, His mercy and His power on our behalf. We are so prone to believe that it’s up to us. Sure, Jesus saves, but after that it’s up to me to hammer out my obedience. Then the truth comes crashing in, like that fatal rip tide. I am not able. Even after Jesus saves, I am not able. Once in awhile, God trusts me enough to show me the enormity of the real battle, just so I won’t start thinking that I am the general.
Dynamis, the Greek word for “power,” is derived from the stem dyna. All words from this stem have something in common – actual ability. Not just the potential to accomplish, but the actual accomplishment. Paul tells us that the “word of the cross” is able. It is God’s ability to accomplish. So much of Christianity today focuses its attention on the resurrection. But it is the cross that is the word of power. It was the word of power in the life of the Savior and it must be the word of power for me.
The cross is the way of denial. That was the central focus of Jesus’ life. It must also be mine. Resurrection is in the hands of the Father. Denial of self is in the hands of the Son. The world believes that the answer to Life is accumulation. Jesus believes that the answer to Life is denial. Why? Because those of us living here are not able until we encounter the word of the cross. Then we discover that He is able, that all dynamis belongs to Him because He too lived a life of denial.
You only keep what you give up.
