Living with Our Weakness

I know…

You read the title of this piece and you’re going… wait… wait just a minute Mike!

Mike are you suggesting that we just curl up into a fetal position and accept our frailty and inadequacy to the point where we don’t even try?!

Well, … ye… No! Of course not!

But I am going to say that in being human, there is an inherent frailty and weakness that is just reality.

We are finite. We are flesh and blood. We are susceptible to illness, disease, accidents, old age, violence and the collateral damage of war.

Argue with the facts all you want but life is in fact a terminal condition.

Until God fulfills the events of the book of Revelation, we are all subject to death.

Now you’re saying to yourself that I must be losing my mind. I mean, why would Mike travel this road? Why would I write about something this depressing or morbid?

Because it’s just reality. And at some point, you will be confronted with the realities that surround the final moments of this fragile, precious thing called life.

Unless we live long enough to experience the Rapture of the ones who love Jesus and we are carried away in an instant to be with Christ, we will all experience what it is to breath our last breath here on Earth. We will experience the surrender of the bonds that bind our souls to our bodies.

I have only really experienced this twice in my lifetime personally.

And, I can tell you that this process of our dying will never be easy. It can seem peaceful depending on how we physically leave, but it can also be very traumatic and even violent.

Do you understand though, that death was brought about because of the curse that is original sin?

The sin of Adam and Eve has passed on to all of us that are their distant relatives.

But of course, there is hope for us. And this hope has a name… His name is Jesus. We cannot save ourselves from death. We cannot do much more than sometimes prolong our inevitable end through medicine, through surgery, through radiation or dietary treatments. Prolong life yes, but prevent our eventual demise, absolutely not.

So, the question then becomes, how will you or I confront our mortality? Our date with destiny?

Will we do all we can to run from the reality of our passing? Or, will we confront the inevitability of our coming date with destiny and instead savor the precious time we have left here and invest our moments wisely in the others around us, especially our loved ones?

It’s your choice you know.

You see, God gave us our free will, and we can always choose how we react to a situation. Yes, we can definitely make a choice in regard to how we approach death.

However, please understand this. I’m not remotely suggesting that death is easy, or that you are somehow messed up because you haven’t handled it the way that thought you would.

Death is actually pretty hard. It’s painful and it’s traumatic. It’s an experience from the perspective of those left behind that will rock your world and leave you changed. Because it in fact leaves scars for those left behind.

Even Jesus carry’s scars from death.

But His scars are different than ours.

Our scars are the scars of separation and sadness. His scars are ones that speak of victory and hope!

You see, whether you accept this or not, Jesus’ scars speak of the conquering of death. For Jesus did not remain dead. He rose from His grave and stepped from death and it’s supposed victory over Him (and us) into new life. Eternal life!

Most of us will experience death here on Earth. Whether it is our own or that of another, we will go through the valley of the shadow.

But the question remains. Will you experience death as the passage from this life into a beautiful new existence through Christ and eternity with Him, or will you experience the painful passage from this great struggle of life into the darkness and separation that is judgement and hell?

You see, our weakness and frailty is just a given. It is a part of our human condition and existence. In accepting this weakness and turning it over to God, we are promised that our weakness will be made a strength. And I believe that the strength we can experience is that of our Lord Jesus living in us and enabling us to walk through whatever trials that life may throw at us. Even the greatest trial which is our journey from death into eternal life.

May each of us find on that coming day, the strength that can only come to us through our Savior Jesus Christ!

Go boldly into the new day my friends!

Seize the day!

Mike <><

“But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest on me. That is why, for the sake of Christ, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.…” – 2 Cor 12:9-10