Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Thine Is the Power

Even more amazing, perhaps, than God's full control of the vast universe is the attention He gives each living soul. C. S. Lewis wrote in The Problem of Pain,"[T]he sheer difference between [God and ourselves] is one compared with which the difference between an archangel and a worm is quite insignificant.... But at the same time... the intimacy between God and even the meanest creature is closer than any that creatures can attain with one another."

And God went further--much further--even than wanting us for friends. The person willing to die for someone else is relatively rare. The person who would do it for anybody besides his or her closest loved ones is the extreme exception. And few of us would care to admit openly that we consider our own lives worth the sacrifice of anyone else's.

But by Christ's standards, not only was the lowest of human beings worth dying for, but we were worth the additional sacrifice of leaving heaven to spend thirty-plus years on this imperfect, troubled earth--and in poverty and service, under frequent misunderstanding and abuse, at that. The greatest paradox surrounding God's power is that its strongest display is through voluntary weakness.

Ours no less than His.

The Power of God
Is the Power that bore
All of earth's humiliation--
The Power of Love,
That which gives and gives,
That which bought our vindication:
That Power which won
Through renouncing all
Brought the crown of Life unending;
The Power that rules
Never showed contempt
For the weak He's still defending.

We who are His
Need not fear to bear
All the hate of those who mock us,
For through His Power
We can give our all,
And no power of earth can rock us.
If you would win,
Then surrender now--
Trust that He will bring you glory--
Bow your head to Him,
And absorb His love,
And go out to spread His story.

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