Day 3048 of the 7 day Bible verse challenge.

2 Corinthians 4:7 NIV

While to know the true fragility of our existence sparks fear in the hearts and minds of most, just beyond the cross we come face to face with an impossible opportunity to actually be exactly what the world needs to see in order to see Him.

Sadly, we’ve been taught to see our weaknesses as evidence of a gross insufficiency that’s left us unable to ever matter. We’re told that our flaws prove us incapable of making a difference, of being of enough worth to be seen or of even ever being considered worthy of being heard. No, we’re so used to discounting ourselves, discounting one another because of the imperfections we see that we can’t see that it’s those cracks through which God shines brightest.

And so we instinctually hide the very things that are the best evidence of all He is and all He’s done. All because we’ve allowed ourselves to become convinced that this world has the authority to determine worth from what it feels to be worthless.

But there's something about this journey that changes you in ways you didn't realize could possibly be freeing. After all, what's freeing about realizing that you've incurred a kind of wrath that is simply not survivable? What is there over which to rejoice when each reflection you see shows only another insufficiency you didn’t know you had inside? How is it that joy is found down a road which demands a stringent humility that's willing to sacrifice everything you've always wanted?

It just changes the way we see everything.

Why? Because God loves using the rubble to build something that everyone says cannot be done. “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. God chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.” He laughs at our efforts to distinguish and define, and uses all that this place says is worthless to do what is eternally priceless.

Not really sure why this whole idea of our inability and true lowliness has been so persistent in my mind these last several days, but considering that it's not really a concept I've ever given much consideration before, I can't help but find this buzzing excitement in realizing that maybe God's trying to tell me something. And when combined with the things I tend to think about, it really seems to add up to quite an important and entirely timely lesson.

Days are coming when our best will be worthless. In truth, it always has been, but we're inching closer to a time when it will only show more clearly to be as unable as it's always been. Yes, our best efforts and most sincere service and greatest considerations will ultimately prove entirely inadequate to stand up to the changes that are charging and the terrifying mindsets which will be driving them.

So I guess this venture into our inability is perhaps a way of preparing us by reminding that our trust mustn't remain in ourselves.

But for the most part, that's exactly where we've learned to focus. It's always been about us and what we feel we can bring to the table. We rely on the strength and wit that's gotten us this far, as if they were of our own design all along. We trust that our ability to keep up with the status quo will remain largely feasible as long as the status quo remains as simple as it's always been. And in the end, if nothing else, we always trust that we can fall back on our laurels and the delightful assumptions that it'll all just work out with the same minimal effort made possible by insubstantial requirement that we've always been able to meet in the past.

We're seeing now the necessity of a hope placed in another place. We're finding ourselves suddenly a bit more on the receiving end of society's lashing out. We're furthering into times of insanity as the world around us speeds up the development of all that destructs. And while our general assumptions that brighter days will indeed prevail and kindness and compassion will manage to rise to the surface in most, I fear we're going to find ourselves being rudely awakened from that daydream in days to come.

And if we're as unready as many likely already feel, we'll find that our faith is tested in ways that it’s in no way ready to withstand. This facade of being resilient, battle-hardened soldiers of faith will eventually give way to a growing fear as our armor is chipped away by the wickedness being hurled and hastened and triumphantly touted all around us. Yes, if we choose to continue shirking our responsibility to remain ready, we'll likely find ourselves all but.

Yet, that is entirely unacceptable. We've got word straight from Christ Himself telling to always be ready as we know not when the Master of this house will return. And should He return to catch us napping, sleeping on the job, unable to stand watch, pleased will be the last thing He proves to be. Not because He's filled with anger or ridicule, but simply because He told us that what was coming would be a time of great testing.

And if we fail to make ready and accept the risk of falling away because of our unaddressed insufficiencies shining forth as the darkness closes in, we'll only have proven to taken Him too lightly. And He simply paid too high a price to be overlooked.

So I think we need to begin coming to terms with our true condition here. If we're to begin building a faith able to withstand the gauntlet into which we're aimed, we must first understand the materials that we're building with. We have to understand the state of our foundation before we begin simply tossing up boards and beams as we batten down the proverbial hatches as this storm of sinful depravity blows in from the horizon that’s seemed a distance until of late.

We are all far less than we make ourselves out to be. Now, we do that for many reasons. To look good in front of company. To appear of higher standing amongst those we're trying to please. To convince both the world around us and even the conscience within that we're of greater resolve than we care to admit. But we're going to quickly find that all these happily believed deceptions are far more problematic than we've ever considered.

Building ourselves up into impervious vessels will bring about this mindset that allows us to more easily rest and assume we can plow through the barricades being built ahead. If we think ourselves bulletproof tanks designed only for battle, we'll charge into this coming chaos assuming that unscathed we'll come out the other side. But that kind of arrogance only seeks to undermine under a guise of lies built to soothe ego rather than a humble awareness of the true condition we bear.

We are humans. We are but breath and ashes. We're a collection of dust gathered from the ground only alive due to the breath of God having been given into our lungs. We are finite and feeble, futile and fleeting, and these truths are not lessons we should be willing to risk being learned the hard way.

No, it isn't fun to admit our weaknesses nor put forth the effort needed to bolster them. It isn't a party to look deep in the mirror beyond the prettily painted surface we've spent so long trying to perfect. It's miserable to come to terms with the fact that we are but clay which is only hardened through the fire of reality and furnace of affliction. And it hurts to admit that even after we've been hardened our fragility is still clearly evident.

Because one misstep, one rash decision, one moment of not paying attention and we fall from the pedestals upon which we’ve placed ourselves toward a shattering appointment with the Rock we didn’t feel the need to build upon.

We've got to get over ourselves, and as quickly as possible. Because the world is hastening God's anger a little more every day. And while His benevolent mercy has kindly relented thus far, He will not withhold His vengeance forever. That's why the promises laden throughout Scripture. That's why the book of Revelation reads like a battle report from another reality.

That's why Christ told us to stand ready, and to do so by humbly kneeling in submission before His cross so that we can stand against the schemes of the enemy.

Friends, our fragility isn't a shameful truth to hide or gloss over. It's not a reason to lament, only should we pretend we've not flaws nor weaknesses should we feel ashamed. Because it's through our imperfections that His perfect provision is seen most clearly. It's our flaws that show His mercy. Our scars prove His healing. Our failures testify to His great victory over all we've done to prove ourselves able to do this alone.

We don't need to do this alone, but moreover, we don't need to think we can do this alone. We need to embrace who we are in all of our inability so that His strength and wisdom and promise are clearer for all to see. Because this world doesn't need an army ready to prove itself able to overcome. It needs a church willing to admit that we don't have this, but that because we don't, we've sought shelter in Him who's already proven the ultimate winner.

If we only focus on our lowly state as these jars of clay, then yeah, we've not got much to brag about, to boast in or rejoice over. But our boasting isn’t the rewarding opportunity we should be seeking. What we should be seeking is any and every chance to testify to the reasons in which we believe in what the world thinks is foolishness. And what better testimony could we possibly have than to hold high a list of reasons we should be disqualified from grace, from mercy, from hope, from love, only with the truth being that we’re not disqualified after all?

Because as that list of our inadequacies is a list the world would readily agree with, and if they would quickly agree that we are as screwed up as they already want to prove us to be, then our willingness to let our flaws shine forth only shows that His love is of greater accomplishment than the world’s efforts to create a passing replacement. Our humble speaking of the sheer amount of grace He’s shown us in our lowliness proves that His ways really are higher and better and more priceless than all the nonsense we’ve come up with down here.

So if we can come to the point where we boast in the fact that our God is able to use such riffraff to fashion an army for Himself, an army which carries the light of His Word and the hope of His promise into a battleground growing more out of control by the moment, then those looking for help and hope and healing will know better where to look. And that’s why we can’t hide our flaws anymore.

Because by showing that we’re unable, unworthy, unwelcome, and yet still somehow loved and seen and cared about, we'll not be pointing to ourselves anymore. We'll be the beggars we've always been, only now able to tell others where to find bread. Where to find hope. Where to find rest. Where to find this promise that gives us something to fight for against all that we've always wanted.

Friends, this mindset that's convinced us we can be these lone heroes, if in our eyes only, is something that needs to go. The only foundation solid enough to build anything on is truth, and the truth is that we need help to even make it through the day, let alone to stand before the odds we're going to face. We don't prove our faith by showing we don't need His help. We prove our reliance upon Him by showing that we're well aware that we're nothing without Him.

That's the mix we need to find in this opportunity called faith. A blending of the acceptance of our fallen and faltering state combined with a kind of strength therefore so clearly not our own. We're not the ones who will win the fight over sin, over darkness, over death. We're just the impossible recipients of that victory won by another on our behalf. Let the world see His work in you, through you.

Not by painting yourself as a priceless piece of porcelain. But by being willing to be a cracked, weathered, dirty and worn piece of clay that somehow makes it through the chaos in one piece.

Because a miracle like that can only come from the One who's always been able to keep us together, even through all those days we’ve spent trying to tear ourselves apart. Yes, our failures do indeed prove something about us. They prove that both our best isn’t enough, but also that our best isn’t what He’s relying on to do what He’s already done.

No, He doesn’t need us to be perfect. In fact, our perfection would only dilute His grace. So oddly enough, our imperfections are what perfectly show His perfect mercy. Don’t hide that anymore. Embrace the truth of it so that you can build a faith able to weather the coming storm, and so that others can see that they don’t need to be perfect either to still be loved by their perfect Savior.

#LeaveNoSoulUntold