THE CONTRAST SHOWS GOD’S POWER (II Corinthians 1-5). Part of the astonishing truth of the gospel is that God shines the light of the knowledge of the glory of Jesus into our hearts (II Corinthians 4:6). We are bearers of the light of God: we are the light of the world, as Jesus said (Matthew 5:14) and as Paul echoed (Philippians 2:15). But this glory is carried in our ordinary human lives; Paul uses the metaphor of putting a great treasure in a plain earthenware pot (II Corinthians 4:7). There is an important reason for this, Paul explains: it is so anyone can see that “the immensity of the power is Gods and not our own” (4:7). Paul then offers a list of several ways in which the frailty of the human vessel is displayed: “We are subjected to every kind of , but never distressed; we see no way out but we never despair; we are pursued but never cut off; knocked down, but still have some life in us” (4:8-9). The raggedness of our existence is constantly on display: in our weakness and in our suffering, and indeed in our illnesses and in our sins. We just dont look much like superheroes or angels or saints, transformed and victorious over all the trials of life. We mostly look ordinary: happy some of the time, successful some of the time, failing some of the time, broken-hearted some of the time. The humanness of our ordinary lives is part of the testimony: the light of Jesus shines within us, but its not because we are so good, so obedient, or so worthy. Its simply because the Lord is gracious. Because the splendor of God contrasts so much with the humanness of our ordinary lives, whenever anyone sees the radiance of Gods presence within us, its obviously got to be God, because it plainly cannot be coming from us. Help us not to be afraid of our brokenness, O Lord; teach us instead to recognize that it will be in our frailty that the world can see how your gracious power is sufficient to sustain us amidst all the trials and struggles we face from day to day.
Posted on: Fri, 05 Dec 2014 09:00:00 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015