No one wants to be weak, so we try to appear strong. Some use the force of their emotions to manipulate people. Others use the force of their personality to control people. And some use the force of their intellect to intimidate people. These create the illusion of strength, but they are evidence of weakness.
Truly strong people have the courage to admit they are dependent on God, that they are imperfect, and that they need other people. Because of this, true strength often looks a lot like weakness. When the apostle Paul prayed that an affliction would be taken away from him, God answered, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness" (2 Corinthians 12:9). Paul responded in a way that set the example for us: "Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong" (12:9-10).
This takes us to the heart of the matter—it is God's strength, not ours, that is at issue. Patriarchs, kings, and prophets all declared: "The Lord is my strength." The hard lesson to learn is that none of us has any strength apart from God. It is only fitting then that we love and worship him with the strength that he has given us.
Strength is not stoicism, stubbornness, or rigidity in the face of difficulty. Loving God with all our strength means that we willingly, humbly, and intentionally allow God to re-form us into his image through pressure and adversity.
Julie Ackerman Link is an editor and writer. She is a founding partner of Blue Water Ink, a company providing writing, editing, designing, and typesetting services for publishers. She is the author of four other titles in the Loving God Series and is a contributor to the popular devotional Our Daily Bread. Julie and her husband, Jay, live near Grand Rapids, Michigan.Pages: 64
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