Weak, and Proud of It

By Cheri Cowell –

“I just can’t go on,” the cry for help rises as a chorus from thousands of counseling rooms around the country.

There are many reasons for this cry, but one of the most common is despair and depression. I’m not talking about clinical depression, and if you have been feeling this way for a long time and it is affecting your ability to function, please see a counselor, for no one should have to suffer when help is available.

The kind of despair and depression I am referring to is a sense that the world’s problems are just too big, and we see ourselves as powerless and overwhelmed by the magnitude of the demands on our time and ability.

But God has an answer for our despair. It is called grace.

God’s grace is His unearned and undeserved favor. It is God, withholding what we deserve and instead giving us His acceptance and love. When He says His grace is sufficient, He is saying that when we fully realize He is giving us His love instead of what we deserve, that should be enough for us. If we were sufficient in ourselves and did not need His grace, then we could handle all of life’s problems on our own and we wouldn’t need Him.

However, since we are not sufficient and are instead weak and powerless, we need Him. It is only because we need Him, because we are weak, that He can be strong for us. His strength is made perfect in our weaknesses. When we see our weaknesses as opportunities for God to show His power, we can join Paul in saying, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”

PRAYER: I praise You, God, for Your unmerited favor, for Your sufficient grace. Help me when I am feeling weak, to see my weakness as an opportunity for You to show Your power through me.

“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” (2 Corinthians 12:9 NIV).

 

Bug Eyes

By Cheri Cowell –

In the opening scene of the movie It’s a Bug’s Life, Flick and the other ants are in a long line walking single-file in a begrudging task. They are carrying “heavy” crumbs to the mound when a giant leaf comes barreling toward them. Flick is paralyzed with fear as this “giant” obstacle blocks his sight. As he stands there, knees knocking, the lead ant comes to his rescue by saying, “Keep your eyes on me, walk toward me, and don’t panic.” He then guides him and those who are following him around the obstacle so they can rejoin the safety of the line.

Even though we can laugh at the humor, it touches a place in our hearts because, at some point, we have all become paralyzed with fear.

God comes to our rescue by saying ‘keep your eyes on me.’

Paul is writing to Timothy, a young student of the faith, and he is telling him not to allow his youth to make him to be fearful. He is told to be bold and confident, not in his own strength and knowledge, but in Jesus.

When we take our eyes off Jesus, the obstacles that seem to float from the skies and threaten to block out the sun, seem bigger than our ability to handle them. When all we see is the obstacle, we cannot find a way around it and we stand paralyzed in fear. We are like Flick, with knees knocking.

But God is saying to us, “Keep your eyes on me, I know the way, walk towards me, and don’t panic because in me you have enough power, love, and self-discipline to handle anything.”

“For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline” (2 Timothy 1:7 NIV).

PRAYER: Thank You, Lord, for walking with me on my faith journey. Help me learn to keep my eyes fixed on You, and not the obstacles. Please give me Your eyes to replace my ‘bug eyes.’ I praise You for giving me the power, strength, love, and self-discipline to say to any obstacle, “I am not afraid.”

Rules for the Road

By Cheri Cowell –

Have you ever spent time with someone who criticizes and finds fault with everything and everyone around them? It is tiring being with these people.

Perhaps I should say it is tiring if we are working hard to not join them. It is easy if we just chime in, for all of us have a critical spirit by nature.

While walking by someone who is dressed inappropriately, a comment can be made about dressing to attract the wrong kind of attention, then the conversation quickly moves to how the morals of society are going down the drain, and how your mother never would have let you out of the house dressed that way. How easily we use our superior yardstick to judge others. I have often heard it said that we should be careful when pointing a finger at someone because when we do, there are four pointing back at us. Though we may not dress that way, we do many other things that in God’s eyes are just as wrong.

When studying Romans 8:1, it dawned on me I had heard this verse referred to when people were feeling guilt-ridden and needed relief, but I hadn’t really looked at what preceded the ‘therefore.’

Paul has just written his famous words, “For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate.” He explains that his body is still a slave to the human desires he was born with (including a critical nature), yet he is now a member of a new kingdom with different rules. Jesus came along and said He knew we couldn’t keep all the rules, and that keeping rules was not the point. The new rule is to love others as yourself and love Him with all our hearts, minds, and souls.

When we do this, we desire to do what is right, and we have the power within us in the form of the Holy Spirit to do it – most of the time.

PRAYER: Thank You, God, for Your new kingdom with the new way of seeing the old rules. Help keep my heart, mind, and soul focused on You so I may give others the grace that has been freely given to me.

“Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit who gives life has set you free from the law of sin and death” (Romans 8:1-2 NIV).

Vulnerable to Love

By Cheri Cowell –

If you are alive on this planet, there is a good chance you have been betrayed at least once in your life. If we count all the little betrayals, or instances of being treated unfairly, I am sure you would be unable to count them on your fingers and toes. A common reaction from teens I’ve counseled over the years is to say, “I’m just never going to let someone do that to me again.” And so they wall themselves off, believing that if they never let someone get close to them again, then they can protect their hearts. I’m afraid that we, as adults, do the same thing. Although we’re much more sophisticated about it, many of us have decided that being vulnerable makes us targets so we put up walls, act tough, and back away when intimacy is required.

But God has shown us a better way.

For God so loved…He gave. He gave knowing we would reject. He gave knowing we would not believe. He gave in spite of our sin. He gave knowing one of His own would betray and another would deny even knowing Him. He gave until He bled. He gave until it was gone. He gave it all so we might have it all. He gave so we might know how to give and how to love. He was vulnerable to love and that is what it means to love. Yes, we will be hurt, but it is also the only way we will ever know the depth of true love.

So, every time someone annoys you today, every time a driver cuts you off or someone makes a nasty comment, every time you remember the pain someone has caused you—say to yourself, “For God so loved the world…He gave.” Then act in accordance with that love.

PRAYER I thank You, Lord, for giving when You knew it would cost you everything. Help me to focus more on the giving of love and less on how much it will cost me. Help me to be vulnerable enough to experience the true depth of love.

“This is how much God loved the world: He gave his Son, his one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending his Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him” (John 3:16-17 The Message).

United in Love

By Cheri Cowell –

To celebrate our twentieth wedding anniversary, my husband planned this wonderful trip retracing our honeymoon journey along the Blue Ridge Parkway. As we meandered along the mountaintop we leafed through the pages of our photo album, reminiscing about the things we saw and did, and the carefree abandonment in which we approached life. One of my anniversary gifts to Randy was a recording of the love songs sung at our wedding and of our dating years. It was so much fun to remember the past and realize how far God has brought us. We remembered the tough times, the trying times, and the tender moments of those early years. Each evening and each morning we thanked God for the years He’s given us, and the years yet to come. True love is not always easy, but when genuine love is united with God’s love, that unity is a beacon drawing others to the One who is Love.

While this passage is offered as part of Christ’s prayer for His disciples and for all those who follow in their footsteps, we can also see how those who are united in married love share this same goal. Our loves: marriage, family, and brothers and sisters in Christ are to be a window into heaven. May our loves be that beacon for Him.

PRAYER: Thank You, God, for the loves in my life, for the way You show Your love through the relationships You’ve given. Help me focus more on the blessings my relationships bring than on the difficulties of becoming and staying united in love.

“I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me” (John 17:23 ESV).

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