May the mumbling commence!
Because I live in a culture that holds independence as the ultimate virtue, I have to learn the lesson of dependence and interdependence over and over again. No matter how successful any one human being has become, that person is still dependent upon God and interdependent with one’s Christian brothers and sisters. Read some of Paul’s thoughts from the end of 2 Corinthians and the beginning of Romans, and you will see that Paul knew these facts – super apostle or no.
To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (2 Cor. 12:7-10)
An apostle is dependent upon revelations and signs and wonders and miracles (2 Cor. 12:12). Paul begins this passage claiming to have surpassingly great revelations – ones that could make him conceited. Perhaps, Paul might think that his surpassingly great revelations and signs and wonders and miracles could make him independent. At least, that would be the danger for a person raised in my culture (and I realize that Paul was raised in a vastly different culture).
Then, there’s that response of God to the thorn in the flesh and the plea for removal. May grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in your weakness. In the eyes of this world in which we live, what kind of comfort is that?!? Are we dependent upon the grace of God to live for Christ, to move for Christ, and to speak for Christ? Yes, we are. Do we not remember the words of Jesus to his disciples when his death on the cross came near? “I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. (Jn. 15:5)” Now that is a humbling truth.
And what about our interdependence on one another? Read further:
For I am afraid that when I come I may not find you as I want you to be, and you may not find me as you want me to be. I fear that there may be quarreling, jealousy, outbursts of anger, factions, slander, gossip, arrogance and disorder. I am afraid that when I come again my God will humble me before you, and I will be grieved over many who have sinned earlier and have not repented of the impurity, sexual sin and debauchery in which they have indulged. (2 Cor. 12:20-21)
I long to see you so that I may impart to you some spiritual gift to make you strong – that is, that you and I may be mutually encouraged by each other's faith. (Rom. 1:11-12)
Who I am, at my best, and who you are, at your best, is undividedly interconnected. I thought that I have built you up; you though that you have built me up. But, if we do not live a life of mutual faith, both you and I will be humbled. Living the life that Christ calls us to is impossible without God. Living the life that Christ calls us to without each other is nearly equally improbable.
I admit it. I need God. And I need you to live that life of faith with Christ Jesus at the wheel. I cannot do it without God. I cannot do it without being in deep relationship with my Christian brothers and sisters. And, because of the grace that God has given me, I believe you also need me. We are interdependent. We mutually encourage one another by each other’s faith.
Oh, to be humbled by God!
Enough mumbling for now…
Peace Out
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