Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Mephibosheth Part 3

 
"Strong?  Weak?  Both!"
 
     We are all Mephibosheth, lame before grace bestows Divine favor upon us through Christ, and lame afterwards in the sense that we remain dependent on our Lord for all things.
 
     "Though He was crucified through weakness, yet He liveth by the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, but we shall live with Him by the power of God toward you" (II Corinthians 13:4).
 
     We might well consider ourselves as strong in Christ since the Apostle Paul commanded us to "be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might" (Ephesians 6:10).  This is true, and we do well to trust in the presence of the indwelling Holy Spirit to enable us to "do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Philippians 4:13).  We are spiritually strong in Him.  However, nothing changes the fact that we are also "weak in Him," that is, we remain the completely dependent party in the relationship of God and man.  As with Mephibosheth, we feast at the Lord's table, but we also require the help of God in even getting to the table.  Our spiritual lameness remains in the sense that we walk by and only by "the power of His might," preparing us to realize that "My strength is made perfect in weakness" (II Corinthians 12:9).
 
    The believer lives in many enigmas of spiritual reality that call us to walk pathways that seem to diverge.  Are we strong in Christ?  Yes.  Are we weak in Christ?  Yes.  Both truths are true, and in the mind of God (the only mind that ultimately matters), no contradiction exists.  Thus, we trust the One who perfectly understands, and the One who causes our feet to walk the paths of strength and weakness that converge in the Lord Jesus.  We live in the confidence of faith that affirms, "I can do all things through Christ," and the humility of faith that confesses, "Without Me, ye can do nothing" (Philippians 4:13; John 15:5).  Like Mephibosheth, we rejoice in an abundance of blessing that exalts and enables us in the favor of God, and in the awareness of abiding lameness that humbles us in our complete dependence upon God.
 
"And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for My strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me."
(II Corinthians 12:9)

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