My Dad's Bigger than Your Dad

When I was a little girl I thought my dad was the strongest man in the whole world. One year he constructed a stone patio and walkway around the house. I remember him pulling hundred pound sacks of cement mix out of the car and slinging them over his shoulder just as easily as if it'd been one of his five-year-old twins. The rocks he used for the patio were big and heavy. We tried to pick them up, but only Daddy could lift them.
To my little girl mind, strength meant brawn.
When I grew up and came to know about God and began to study the Word, I formed another picture of strength.

In Jesus' day, the Romans were in power. Their strength lay in their ability to conquer and control other nations.
To the Jews, whose former glory boasted King David and Solomon, power was a coming King and the overthrow of heathen foreigners.
To the Greeks, power was intellect, education, and knowledge.

But to Jesus, power is humble submission to God. What a strange paradox:
if you want to be first, you must be last (Matt. 20:25-28).
If you want to become the greatest, you must become like a child (Matt. 18:3,4)
Jesus humbled Himself and became obedient, to death, even death on a cross (Phil. 2:8,9) and God exalted Him to the highest place.

But I cannot do this. I naturally want to do what those old Romans and Greeks did: exalt myself. No, just as our pastor said today in his sermon, "You can't! You are a failure! You're not good enough!"

And that's what it's all about. The way of Christ is recognizing that my Daddy is the strongest man in the world. I can't lift that rock or tote that cement bag. But He can. Just like a little child, I recognize that and I rely on Him.
That is true power, for when I am weak, then He is strong.

Eph. 3:30: "Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus thoughout all generations for ever and ever. Amen."

(all verses from NIV)