PUSH-POWER

My son and family were over to help me with some yard work, and the oldest grandson gave mowing a try. Let's just say he needs to grow a bit and develop those leg and arm muscles. But he gave it his best effort! I snapped this photo because the incident reminded me of one of my go-to verses when I feel overwhelmed: I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. (Philippians 4:13)

I know of folks who twist that verse into claiming God's empowerment for unworthy, self-serving, and even God-dishonoring goals. But when this verse planted itself in my heart, I took it within the context of Paul's “writing office”--a Roman prison. He didn't write, “Hey, loving the vacation! Beautiful view, incredible food, sparkling swim pool.” Far from it. He was in unwanted, unsought, primitive circumstances. But he was making the best of it. And this letter, centuries later, would be known as the “epistle of joy.”

Ironically, a lot of negatives framed this particular letter to the church at Philippi. Paul would rather be traveling and preaching than sitting in a Roman prison. He felt a special bond to this church, a Roman colony in current-day Northern Greece (then known as Macedonia). He sought to remind them of his own life lessons: to expect to suffer for Christ. To be humble. To pray. To let God stretch and grow their faith. To overcome opposition inside and outside the church.

Perhaps it's the undergirding message of “persevere” that made this book of the Bible so special to me in my young adult years. I'd gone through a lot of challenges and turmoil in my twenties. I won't bore you, but there were a lot of disappointments and humbling experiences. Times I felt like asking God, “Did I make the right decision? Am I pushing faith too hard? Is this goal really bigger than I can really handle?”

So, like my grandson straining against a too-heavy lawn mower, I was wondering if I wasn't big enough or smart enough for tasks I'd envisioned as my life work. Once God had shrunk me down to size, my song changed from “I can do all things—I'm smart and clever” to the more realistic “I can do this through God who strengthens me, because I sure can't do it on my own.”

God doesn't excuse us from making big goals, as long as He's part of the process. The end result may be something we never anticipated. Like little-kid-big-mower, I needed to grow strong in some areas before God could entrust me with bigger things in His plan for my life.

So yes, my grandson's dad (my son) took over the mower and finished the lawn. Give us a few years and that grandson will grow like Kansas corn in the summertime. His limbs will muscle out. His voice go down a few pitches, and that bare little chinny-chin-chin will sprout hairs.

Isn't that a picture of us as growing Christians (puberty's progress aside)? God has His best plan, His best time, and His best purpose—to grow us up as Paul wrote the Philippian church: “That he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6).