May 5, 2008

~Living With Resurrection Power~

Romans 8:11 - "But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you."


How often do we quote Philippians 4:13 - "I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me?" Truth be known, we quote it a lot, and probably almost flippantly at that. Indeed, we have been granted incredible power. Does it mean that we would be able to lift up a car? Probably not, though if God were to receive glory from that action then of course He would be able to grant your that power. but, power here seems to be talking about things that we as human kind have not been able to figure out. We are speaking of transcendent power. For instance, we know that in the field of microbiology scientists have been able to view the smallest particle known to man - the atom. Two questions though: How do we know that there isn't anything smaller than the atom? And, secondly, what holds all these atoms together?

That last one is the really baffling question. It doesn't make sense that these atoms just "hang around" with each other. If we could somehow figure out how to isolate these atoms we surely wouldn't be able to figure out how to get them to hold together. But, we have an answer from Scripture: "His before all things, and in Him all things hold together" (Colossians 1:17). That is incredible power that is transcendent.

Or, what about life? That is one of those other transcendent issues. We can take all the right ingredients and put them together and yet no life will come into a creature - why? God is the only One with that power - Genesis 2:7 - "then the Lord God formed man of hte dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being." So clearly, the power that is from above is transcendent, used for more than the mundane. This is the power that raised Jesus Christ from the dead. And this, Paul says, is the power that gives us spiritual life and becomes an infinite resource!

So, the next time you think about using Philippians 4:13, remember that the power that is being spoken of is much more than the mundane - it is transcendent power that goes beyond our imagination and it is available to all who believe.