This week we focus on the Lenten theme of taking up our cross and following Jesus.
Words of Reflection
There’s a particular feeling that comes over us when we feel a conversation slipping away, when the subject matter takes a turn into things out of our realm of knowledge and understanding. It can sometimes feel as though the other participants are speaking a different language. When that happens, and the others eventually turn to us expecting input of some kind, there’s a common response we can sometimes lean on:
“I’ve got nothing.”
It’s a humbling feeling, one that assaults our human desire to be in-the-know and in control. We don’t like to admit when we’ve reached the end of our usefulness, when we literally have nothing of value to add to a situation. It’s dispiriting. It’s difficult. It’s diminishing. At least it is as far as this world is concerned.
In a spiritual sense, though, being brought to the end of ourselves is a good thing. When Jesus says, “Take up your cross,” he is not saying, “Show me what you’ve got. Impress me.” No, he’s saying the opposite: “Abandon yourself to me. Stop relying on your own strength. Lay down all of your claims to self-sufficiency and embrace the life I came to give.” He made that clear when he went on to say:
“For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.”—Mark 8:35 (NIV)
We are, in the words of the old hymn, “children of weakness.” But that is not a bad thing. When we acknowledge our weakness, we open ourselves to his strength. The works of the flesh will ultimately fail and be exposed for their emptiness and folly, but when we lay down our lives at the foot of the cross and put to death any confidence we have in our own strength and cleverness, God is able to work in us and through us in ways we can’t even begin to imagine.
Nowhere is the bankruptcy of the flesh made more evident than at the cross of Christ. We come to the cross acknowledging that “all our righteousness is as filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6, MEV), and we are brought to our knees with the realization that the righteous one has taken all that filthiness upon himself. What can we say in response to this? Three words come to mind:
“I’ve got nothing.”
It’s true. The cross humbles and silences us. We have nothing we can offer in return, at least in our own strength. But when we instead offer our hearts and lives to the crucified one, putting to death any trust we have in ourselves, he proves over and over again that he is our all in all. He has paid the price we could not pay…so that we might live the life we could not otherwise live.
Scripture for Meditation:
But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” 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.`
—2 Corinthians 12:9-10 (NIV)
Song: Jesus Lover of My Soul
It's all about You Jesus
And all this is for You
For Your glory and Your fame
It's not about me
As if You should do things my way
You alone are God
And I surrender to Your waysJesus lover of my soul
All consuming fire is in Your gaze
Jesus I want You to know
I will follow You all my days
For no one else in history is like You
And history itself belongs to You
Alpha and Omega You have loved me
And I will share eternity with You
Paul Oakley
© 1995 Thankyou Music
Questions for Contemplation:
Do you find it easy or difficult to embrace the words, “It’s not about me?” What might you holding onto that needs to be brought to death, so that the life of Jesus might dwell in you more deeply?
What do you think it means that God’s power is “made perfect in weakness?” How does your heart respond to those words? How might God be asking you to embrace them more fully in your life?
Earlier in 2 Corinthians the Apostle Paul said this: “In ourselves we are not able to claim anything for ourselves. The power to do what we do comes from God.”—2 Corinthians 3:5 (NIrV). Spend some time reflecting on this truth and your response to these words. Pray that God would reveal even more of his power in your life to bear fruit for his glory.