Does your soul feel weak...you're in a great position!

Over this past summer my wife and I remodeled a duplex. You create a lot of mess while doing those kinds of things. One way to keep the mess down was to clean each day at the end. I always loved sweeping the floors, because it gave you the sense of accomplishment, who doesn’t love instant gratification. Plus it was like one of those industrial size brooms.

I would push my broom across the floor like I was on the olympic curling team . In my mind I thought, if I pushed really hard, to the point where the bristles are almost flat, then it will ensure that I pick up all the dirt. Yet, over and over, I would leave trails of dirt in my wake. I was super confused.

My wife turned to me and said, “If you don’t push as hard, it will actually work better.” In my frustration, I reacted like an eight year old. Doing what she said, but with an attitude, and with the hopes that I would fail more. However, like normal, she was right. When I barely pressed down and allowed my broom to glide across the floor, it collected almost all the dirt with ease.

It is designed to do the job for you. This is similar to a golf club or a baseball bat. The momentum of the tool is actually what creates the best outcome, not your own strength.

That is exactly how our faith is to work. Right now I feel like many of us are working really-really hard in our strength to trust that God is with us and guiding us through this crazy situation. We are doubling down on online worship experiences, creating extensive outreach networks, getting more creative with budgets than ever, and so on (and let me state that I am 100% for all of that). But last night I realized that, in my own life, I’ve been thinking it’s kind of all up to me, and us. And I’ve been working harder trying to trust, instead of just actually trusting.

I pictured us (the church) as a kid learning how to swim in a pool by ourselves, shouting out to our parents “look at how hard I am trying for you,” in between inhaling huge gulps of water…Rather than us learning how to swim with our parents in the pool, with one of their arms waiting underneath us, just in case we dip below the surface for too long.

My point is this, I don’t want to trust only in my own grind, without giving God’s Grace its proper space. This morning I read some of Pauls writing to the corinthians, where Jesus tells him: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’” and then Paul responds, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”

Can you imagine doing this literally! I don’t want anyone to see my weaknesses, let alone do I want to go around bragging about them. You get the idea here. But look at Pauls language again. Jesus’ authority is at its best when we are weak. He is out here chopping wood with ease when we say things like, “help…I can’t do it…I’m not sure…” Where do I get off thinking that if I come up with the perfect system, or the perfect plan, or get creative enough, then I can save the day. And trust me, if you know me at all, you know I love to maximize and get creative and all that good stuff.

Again, Pauls language is so gentle, so calm. He states, “so I will boast in my weakness,” WHY? Because then “Christ power will rest on me.” Did you catch that? Paul didn’t say, Christ power will take over, or that it will barge in. No, he said, “Christ power will rest on me.” God is not pushy. He did not cause the crises we are in. But it is an opportunity for us to allow him to come in and rest his strength upon our lives. I don’t know about you, but my soul is literally being refreshed as I think about that.

So here are my closing thoughts. I will not stop trying my hardest to figure out how to pastor well during this time, but I am going to make sure that comes second to God doing the bulk of the work. I’m still going to pick up the broom and sweep, I’m just going let the broom be the broom. I can’t control who does or doesn’t get sick (on the large scale), who will or won’t lose their job, or who will or won’t ask for help. Then I can’t fix any of those things once they happen. Sounds like a weakness. Great news. Not sure there is a better time than right now for Jesus’ power to be made perfect.