Posts Tagged: POWER FOR THE TASKS AT HAND
AS POWERFUL AS I MAKE UP MY MIND TO BE
“I have noticed,” said Abraham Lincoln, “that a man is usually about as happy as he has made up his mind to be.”
I’ve also noticed that I am about as powerful as I make up my mind to be. This is decidedly bad news for me a good deal of the time. To paraphrase an old joke usually attributed to Gracie Allen, I’ve never felt strong, and I still do! (I think the original was, “I’ve never liked you, and I always will.”)
Maybe I need to redefine power. Perhaps even better, perhaps I need to reimagine it.
What is power? How do I imagine it?
Is power the ability to win gold in Olympic swimming events or on the balance beam? Is power being president of the United States—or at least running for that office? Obviously, if I think of power in these ways, I am not powerful. And I will never be powerful.
The truth is that I don’t want to merely be powerful in the ways I just mentioned. No, I want to be all powerful.
Of course, that is one of the attributes of God. God is the One who is described as all-powerful.
Indeed, challenging God’s knowledge (and knowledge is power, right?) was the first temptation. “You will be like God (or gods), knowing . . .” is not just the first temptation. It is the only temptation. Every other specific temptation is merely a variation on that theme.
So, how should I think of power?
Power is the strength to do what I really need to do, as a limited human being, at any given moment.
And what do I need to do at any given moment?
Merely the task at hand!
That task may be mowing the grass (which I already did on a very hot and humid day), doing the laundry (which I am doing now), grading a student’s paper, waiting tables at the restaurant where I work, resting, loving my wife, making final revisions on my PhD thesis, being kind to and patient with people, and so on.
I will have the power to do what I need to do. However, God doesn’t give the power before I need it. There is no savings account or investment portfolio for power.
But if I ask God for the power I need at this moment, and I act based on the assumption that the power will be there, then the power is, in fact, there.
DOWN TO EARTH BELIEVER
- DTEB, “Getting Christ and Ourselves Back in Focus” November 11, 2024“Col. 3:1 ¶ If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Col. 3:2 Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. Col. 3:3 For you have died, and your life is hidden […]
- “Search Me!” October 27, 2024“Psa. 139:23 Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! 24 And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139:23-24, English Standard Version) I am participating in a Bible study, and this is a prayer […]
- “Christian Speech” October 26, 2024“Eph. 4:29 Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.” Foulkes, in his excellent commentary on the Book of Ephesians, writes the following, which I quote at some length: “29. Now the […]
- “God is in the Details” October 11, 2024“The devil is in the details.” (A general saying, often quoted by lawyers, reporters, and negotiators.) “God is in the details.” (Me, almost certainly not original.) “Luke 12:7 Why, even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not; you are of more value than many sparrows.” (Jesus) God does not micromanage, but God […]
- “Grandma’s Pump” October 8, 2024When I was a little critter, I would stay at my grandma’s house for a night or two sometimes. I liked this for a lot for many reasons. One thing I liked about staying with her was that Grandma’s house was much more technologically advanced than ours was. For one thing, she had indoor water—sort […]
- “Wearing the #14 Wrong-Side-Out” October 5, 2024Pete Rose, #14, is dead. Many of the old guys with whom I play softball watched him play and appreciated him greatly. I do as well. He was one of the greatest players who ever played the game. Yes, he admitted (eventually) to betting on baseball. But many of us still regard him as one […]
- “Passing Along the Love (and a Link)” October 4, 2024Several years ago, a friend of mine put me onto a daily meditation by Richard Rohr and friends. I don’t read them all the time, but I probably should. They are good! I thought that today’s writing was especially good, and I also figured that this would be a good way to post something. I […]
- “Witnessing Versus Being Witnesses” September 19, 2024“Acts 1:1 In the first book, O Theophilus, I have dealt with all that Jesus began to do and teach, Acts 1:2 until the day when he was taken up, after he had given commands through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. Acts 1:3 He presented himself alive to them after […]
- “A Bathroom Prayer for Hurting Hands” September 11, 2024A week ago Sunday, my hands were hurting so badly at church that I went to the bathroom to run hot water over my hands. Arthritis perhaps, or carpal tunnel, or general orneriness—I don’t know why my hands hurt, but they do. They have for years. So, while I was running hot water over my […]
- “Waiting and Seeking” September 10, 2024“Lam. 3:19 ¶ Remember my affliction and my wanderings, the wormwood and the gall! Lam. 3:20 My soul continually remembers it and is bowed down within me. Lam. 3:21 But this I call to mind, and therefore I have hope: Lam. 3:22 ¶ The steadfast love of the LORD […]
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