Well Of Weakness

During my barn time a few days ago, the Spirit reminded me of a word He gave me a while back: “For power to be proved worthy, it must be subjected to futility.”

I thought that as I matured in Christ, I would feel stronger, smarter, more capable. But because we serve a characteristically paradoxical God, I have found that just the opposite is true. For the genuine saint, as Christ is revealed in us in increasing measure, we become less and less self-sufficient and less and less dependent upon our own understanding and strength. Another part of this paradox is that as we become less and less, we begin to realize more and more. We realize the true depravity of the human condition: we are weak, we are ignorant, we are cowards, we are utterly incapable of anything good outside of Jesus Christ, Who Himself, holds the very fabric of our reality together by the threads of His grace (Mark 10:18; Rom 3:10-12; Col 1:17).

A genuine walk with Christ is a process of “emptying” just as Christ was emptied—the culmination of such emptying being the release of His Spirit when He died on the cross (John 19:30). As followers of Christ, we willingly subject ourselves to futility just as He Himself was willingly subjected to futility. For power to be proved worthy, it must be willing to relinquish it and follow in the steps of Christ, Who exampled to us utter and complete dependence upon God. He was willing to experience sorrow and spiritual destitution, and to know weakness, humility, suffering and loss. To follow in the steps of Christ, we must become nothing, we must become the least, we must plumb the depths of lack and need and dependence (Matt 18:1-4 & 20:26,27). It is a spiritual mystery which continues to baffle us: “My power is perfected in weakness…” (2 Cor 12:9).

You see, as long as there is any modicum of self-sufficiency, self-mustered courage or self-motivated wisdom, we are subject to pride. In such case, we operate according to the precepts of “Self” and thus, are prey to our own deceptive heart. And when we are operating thusly, no matter what, our choices will always inevitably lead to sin. To walk in Self is to wear the graveclothes of death and sin, to walk in Christ is to be clothed in His righteousness. Therefore, our narrow path of salvation is a path of “coming to the end of Self.” It is a path upon which we become more and more consciously aware that our graveclothes have been shed through our faith in the cross of Christ, and we now walk in newness of life clothed in His righteousness.

As Christ is formed in us, Self operates in us less, and the Spirit of God manifests Itself in us more. I liken it to divine “digging.” As you dig a well, the dirt is taken out-- it is displaced and replaced with something else. And what replaces displaced dirt in a deep well, beloved?
Living water.

(John 13:15,16) I have set you an example so that you should do as I have done for you. Truly, truly, I tell you, no servant is greater than his master, nor is a messenger greater than the one who sent him.

(John 7:37-39) On the last and greatest day of the feast, Jesus stood up and called out in a loud voice, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink. Whoever believes in Me, as the Scripture has said: “Streams of living water will flow from within him.” He was speaking about the Spirit, whom those who believed in Him were later to receive. For the Spirit had not yet been given, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.

(Luke 23:45-47) The sun was darkened, and the veil of the temple was torn down the middle. Then Jesus called out in a loud voice, “Father, into Your hands I commit My Spirit.” And when He had said this, He breathed His last. When the centurion saw what had happened, he gave glory to God, saying, “Surely this was a righteous man.”…

(Phil 2:6-8) …Who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross.

(Posted on Facebook 11/25/2020 Talitha Koum)