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 Corinthians 12:10)
The Lord Jesus Christ is our Savior; He is also our opposite. He is infinite and we are finite. He is omnipotent and we are weak. He is omniscient and we know very little. He is omnipresent and we are bound by space and time. That is the way God intended it to be all the way back in creation. It is not a result of the fall; rather, it is simply God’s perfect plan for humanity.
God never intended for us to be His equal. This was the problem with the fallen angels who rebelled against God in heaven; they wanted to be equal to God. And this was the very same problem with Adam and Eve when they rebelled against God in the Garden. The leader of the fallen angels appeared to our first parents as a slithering serpent; “You will be like God,” he hissed (Genesis 3:5).
Equality was not part of God’s plan when He created the angelic beings in heaven or humanity on earth. There is no greater demonstration of rebellion than when we rise up and seek to be like God. Make no mistake, the greatest sin of the human race is the evil of trying to overcome the oppositeness between the Creator and the creature. And we all do this every time we remove God from the throne of our lives in the hopes that we take His rightful spot.
Listen, there was only one Person in the history of the world who could—and did—truthfully and rightfully claim equality with God, because there was no oppositeness in Him. Jesus said . . .
I and the Father are one. (John 10:30)
Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? (John 14:9-10)
Only the God-Man could make such a claim. Because Jesus was fully God and fully man, He was equal with the Father in every way. And it is only when you and I let God be God that we can get on with the perfect plan He has for our imperfect lives. And in that perfect plan, we see this overwhelming truth: opposites attract. When God in Christ draws us to Himself, the pathway is now open for us to bring our opposites to Him that He might apply His healing ointment.
- When we bring our fears, He applies the ointment of His faith.
- When we bring our doubts, He applies the ointment of His belief.
- When we bring our hopelessness, He applies the ointment of His hope.
- When we bring our weakness, He applies the ointment of His strength.
- When we bring our discouragements, He applies the ointment of His joy.
In God’s economy . . . opposites attract. I hope you’ll be encouraged today to draw near to Him who is your opposite and rejoice as He draws near to you.
This is the Gospel. This is grace for your race. NEVER FORGET THAT . . . AMEN!
Grace for the Race 