Power in Small Packages

A book called God’s Supernatural Power (author: Bobby Connor) discusses how the west “super-sizes” everything—not just food, cars and cereal packages, but people, too. Bobby accurately describes how the church creates “super-saints,” and how we try to calculate where we are spiritually, gauged on what these “super-saints” are doing or not doing. (Sounds an awful lot like idolatry, doesn’t it? And yet, almost all of us have done it with one leader or another.)

As I was reading this, I began to think of people I actually know (not from a distance, but up close) who are nicer, kinder and more loving than many of these super-saints. For example, I’m fairly sure Billy Graham is a pretty normal guy when he’s not doing stadium events. In fact (having read some of his books), it turns out that he thought he was no one special when he was launched internationally as someone who could turn a crowd of drug-using, promiscuous young adults into weeping, repentant ones.

But when you think about it, Billy’s not the one who actually did this; it was God Himself—working through a “clay pot” (2 Cor 4:7) no bigger, smaller or greater than any of us. David is a Biblical hero who started out pretty much the same way. The youngest of many brothers, he was overlooked by his own father when the prophet Samuel came looking to make one of the boys God’s chosen king. Though David was a lowly shepherd, smaller than the rest of his siblings, God plucked him out of the pasture and thrust him before a giant, armed with nothing but a slingshot and some stones. Pretty unimpressive, huh? But he became a king who’s frequently cited in God’s Word, and revered by many cultures and generations.

Then there’s the most notorious Person in the Bible—the King of Kings and Lord of Lords—who actually deserves all of the adulation we could possibly give. But how did the Father present Him to the earth? Did He come on a massive golden chariot, covered in multi-colored robes with gemstones all over them, surrounded with gigantic angels trumpeting His arrival (surely the way religious leaders expected!) to all of earth’s inhabitants? This has to be the determining example. God chose to send His only Son—the Victor of all battles—as a completely vulnerable infant to a now-shamed young woman (because of her out-of-wedlock pregnancy) and an earthly father who just wasn’t too sure about the whole thing (and who can blame him?).

The point is, God truly does use the weak things of this world to confound the strong and the foolish things to confound the wise (1 Cor 1:20, 26-29). I fit in both categories, and am guessing most of you feel the same way, most of the time. Yet this same God Who created the heavens, earth and everything in them, wants to use us to do His bidding—to feed the hungry, heal the sick and raise the dead. He said He’s given us His glory (John 17:22), which I personally think is extraordinarily remarkable. I mean, who did He hang out with when He lived here—the famous priests, rulers and entertainers? Nope, it was the uneducated, the poor, the laborers, the unnoticed ones—much like you and me.

I believe He wants to change our western mindset so that we stop supersizing things and people, and allow Him to be the only One Who deserves this kind of adoration. He wants us to step up to the plate and be the David’s, Mary’s and Billy’s—no matter our age, occupation, IQ, gender or denomination—emulating the Lord of Hosts, as He is the best Example, isn’t He?

This only applies, of course, to those who believe that the Bible is His Word and that His Son came to save us from eternal death by dying on the cross for our sins. But if that’s you, then you have Christ, the Hope of Glory, living inside of you, empowering you to do anything He asks. All it takes is total dependence and relational-connectedness to the Source of life itself.

And if you haven’t yet discovered the reality of knowing the humblest King Who ever walked the earth, I highly recommend it. This relationship isn’t just for the purpose of making sure we have an eternal destiny, but for living now as ones who are power-packed with His loving kindness and miracles that abound as we speak life-words onto a planet whose future is almost present.