I saw two things this week that just kind of hit me wrong.

The first was a church sign that read:

Until there are better Christians, there won’t be a better world.

I don’t know that there’s anything in there that I would argue to the death against, except that it implies there’s no hope for the world apart from me and you being better.

But didn’t Jesus come and die for us while we weren’t good? Isn’t HE the hope of the world? Sure, that hope is expressed through how we live, and I’m a huge advocate for a gospel message that transforms, but a good God can still save the world on my worst days.

The second was the story about Tyre Nichols dying while being arrested by the police. I know that it happened almost a month ago, but I’ve been off of social media since the beginning of the year, and social media is where I get most of my news. So when I finally saw the story this week, and read the details about what had happened, I was shook.

Not shook in the cool, “you’re so hip because you used a cool word” way. Literally, I shook.

I was angry. Frustrated. Enraged.

I was undone.

And I kept thinking about that church sign. Would Tyre Nichols still be alive if I was a better Christian? What if those cops were better Christians? Or even, actual Christians? Would us being better have allowed that 29 year-old man to have the opportunity to turn 30?

Honestly, I don’t know. But I do know that Jesus taught us to ask the Father to let heaven happen here on earth, and in heaven, the glory of Jesus will fuel the actions of man forever. Seeing Jesus will be enough to set the tone of worship for ages to come, and if what happens in heaven is supposed to happen here, then we’ve got to live lives that show Jesus to people.

Not the Sunday School Jesus in a robe with a glowing halo above a head full of long, flowing blond hair, either. The barely recognizable Jesus on a cross, covered with blood and sweat, with matted hair sticking to His face, a face that still showed the forgiveness of the Father toward men who knew no better, and toward men who did know better and still didn’t act better.

The Jesus who can create a better world because He is better; because His blood speaks a better word and writes a better narrative. Does that narrative include my transformation, and yours? Absolutely. Does the salvation of the world depend on me and you being good enough to overcome its bad? Absolutely not.

We point them to Jesus. We tell them about Jesus. We show them the peace and transformation of lives that follow Jesus. And when we have bad days, and hold up a distorted image of His goodness, we remind the world that He came to save all of us, and that His goodness is always able to overcome our lack of it.

Every so often I read things in the Bible and laugh.

No, really. I’m not laughing at God, of course. I’m laughing with Him, because I’m pretty sure some of the things He said made Him laugh, too. Or, at least chuckle.

Like what He told the first man and woman to do after he told the first man and woman what to do. Yes, it’s a weird sentence, but hang in there with me and allow me to explain.

On the 6th day, God created Adam and Eve. On that same day, He gave them a list of things to do. I’ll summarize the list here, but feel free to check it out for yourself in Genesis 1:28.

On the day of their creation, God told them to be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, subdue the earth, and rule every single creature on the earth.

If I asked you to use one word to describe what that sounds like, my guess is that you’d say the word “work.”

Me, too.

But what amazes me is what God said to them next, or, more specifically, on the next day.

It was the 7th day, and it was the day that God rested. But it was also their 1st day after being made, and the 1st day after being given a list of things to do.

So on their 1st day, they rested, too.

God basically said, “Hey! I’ve created everything, and I’ve made you to oversee it. It’s a big job, and you should get right on it. But first, take a nap.”

Um, what?

The reason that sounds so weird to us is that we have a “work for it” mindset. We work hard, so we can play hard, and so we say things like:

This job is killing me. I really need a vacation.

Or, on the first day back after the vacation:

I really need another vacation.

But what God had in mind is that we would rest first so that we could tackle the big calling rested. He wants us to work from rest, not for it.

And once you start intentionally practicing a rhythm of rest and Sabbath, you’ll stop thinking about how weird it was for God to say rest first, and work second.

In fact, you’ll start doing what I’m doing in this blog post: you’ll start telling others to stop before they start.

Don’t worry. They’ll only look at you weird once. After they start, they’ll think you’re a genius.

Just tell them it was your Father’s idea.

Photo by Priscilla Du Preez on Unsplash

Do you sometimes turn your head sideways at the way God does stuff? Am I the only one who finds himself not only asking God why, but also, “Huh?”

I wish I could say this only happens every now and then, but it happens a lot.

Lately, my daughter’s cat has been yowling (it’s a word – feel free to look it up – I’ll wait) a lot because he’s a boy cat and, well, there are some girl cats walking around outside our house who have gotten his attention. The nonstop yowling has had me saying, “Huh?” to the One who created cats with the ability to make such a loud, obnoxious sound.

I’m not writing this about boy and girl cats and how girl cats can drive boy cats crazy, who then drive the humans in the house where the boy cat lives crazy. Really. That’s not the point, even though it’s definitely something I’ll be talking to God about until all the yowling dies down.

The thing that really makes me wonder abut God is how often He actually asks us to do things that seem impossible. It can’t be an accident because, you know, He’s God, which means that He intentionally sets things in motion that reveal our weakness. Huh?

When I was preparing for goals that I would work toward in 2023, I made a goal to write and post to the blog once a week. Every Tuesday, I’ll write something and post it, and then everyone can read it and share it.

Except that God also clearly told me to get off social media at the beginning of the year.

Huh?

How am I supposed to get the word out about all the fantastic things I’m writing and posting if I can’t go on social media and tell people that I just posted something fantastic that they need to read?

Even as I wrote that last, admittedly long run-on sentence, I felt like God was answering the question.

“Paul, is what you’re writing more life-changing than the gospel? Or than the Word made flesh? Did I have any trouble getting that message out without social media? Did Jesus need Twitter? Or Facebook? Or…”

No. No. No. No. No.

And another no to whatever question He mercifully decided not to ask.

Good news like God sending His Son to live among us so that we could live with Him forever gets out. You and I are living proof because we’ve heard the good news that has been going viral for millennia without the technology that is only a couple of decades old now.

He doesn’t need it to get the word out.

Come to think of it, He doesn’t need us to get the word out, either. But He chooses to use us.

He wants to use a guy like me to share a message like that? A guy who can barely keep his heart-rate under control when the cat starts yowling? That guy?

Huh? Why would such a great God use people like me and you? Because people need His power, and our weakness is often the perfect vessel for it.

But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (‭‭2 Corinthians‬ ‭12‬:‭9‬, emphasis mine)

This isn’t about sin. This isn’t about laziness. This isn’t about doing the absolute minimum for God and hoping to get the maximum blessing from God.

This is about recognizing that a big part of our journey with Jesus is designed to reveal the areas where we feel weak, exposed, vulnerable, and, well, human, so that the world can relate to our condition while also seeing the strong, healing, protecting, and super-human power of God in us.

The power of a perfect God is made perfect – the Greek word actually means complete or finished – in our weakness. No wonder Paul finished that verse by saying that he would boast all the more about his weakness.

We can, too. We don’t have to run from the things that God does that make us feel weak. He’s not a mean God Who wants to expose our weaknesses to humiliate us.

He’s a gracious God Who wants to reveal His power to heal us.