Strong Enough

 March 29, 2022

“For this reason I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height— to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” —Ephesians 3:14-19 

Paul says something quite curious in his prayer for the Ephesian Christians when he prays that they be strengthened with might through his Spirit (v.16). Christians are often perceived as weak pushovers in life; those too timid to tackle life on their own terms, needing to be propped up by religion.

Paul sees it quite differently. He wants us to be strong so Christ can dwell in us. The implication is that Jesus has little time for weak, pusillanimous followers. He is too powerful, too big for weak people to contain. It takes a unique kind of strength to admit one’s need for a Savior. It can be scary to acknowledge we need help. Faith means stepping out with certainty onto an uncertain path. Weak people cannot muster enough strength to ask for help, and so never take that first step.

When I was a college freshman, one of my classmates down the hall decided to mix up some homemade root beer. He followed the instructions on the root beer syrup container, bottled the concoction, and put it in his closet to work (ie. “ferment”). I don’t remember how long it sat in his closet, but there came the day when one of the bottles exploded. Then another…and another. One after another, he tallied each explosion. It took about a week before he dared open the closet door, for fear one would burst in his face. Needless to say, his wardrobe was a bit messy!

If we are to be filled with the power of the Spirit, we must be strong, lest the fermenting power of Christ’s new wine burst the bottles of our old self. Weakness just cannot contain what God is up to.