Can God be All-Powerful and weak?
He is All-Powerful, “according to Scripture”, and I believe the Scripture.
“And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.” (Matt. 28:18)
If all power was given to Christ by His claim in Matthew, and it was, then there had to be a time when He did not have it, hence, “the weakness of God”.
Also, in order for that power to be given to Him, the Grantor of such power had to possess the power in order to give it. Hmmm!
Going back to my primary thought; He is All-Powerful so how can He be weak? It is an easy idea to grasp. His weakness was self-imposed. By the way, I am feeling weak at this moment because this morning I ran 3 miles and then came home to cut my grass. Mission accomplished so I am feeling weak but I am not God. God’s weakness was self-imposed accoring to Philippians 2:5-7). It says:
“Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”
He existed in the form of God but He emptied Himself and became a slave. One who has power also has the power to self-impose weakness (limits) on said power.
From the foregoing here is the, “Life Step” question: “Why did He do it?”. He did it to save all who believe. He did it for the benefit of others.
A Few Practical Life Lessons From the Foregoing Proposition
1. God placed limits on Himself for the benefit of others and there are specific times when we should take the same steps. I call it, “back burner feelings”. This happens when I place my feelings of hurt on the back burner in order that I might help others.
2. Just as the Father empowered the Son, one of our main missions in life is to empower others. Parents, empower your children. Husbands and wives, empower each other. And pastors empower your churches. Let us also empower ourselves by eating the right physical and spiritual food. In every grocery store the best products are usually along the wall. In the spiritual grocery store the best food is the Word of God, whether we get it from the Bible or from the lips of a loving brother, sister or friend.
3. Just as the Father empowered the Son, He empowers us to lesser degrees so embrace our God-given power. Each of us has talents. Use them to make the world better. People tell me all the time how impressed they are with my spiritual personage and while I do not see what they see in me, I embrace it. Recently, I was in a hotel parking lot in an area where I was to be the keynote speaker for a religious event. Although my car is well-kept, it was the oldest and ugliest car on the lot, however, among all the drivers of the cars on the lot my mission ranked high among those who drove the up-to-date-shiney automobiles. The foxes had holes. The birds had nests, but the Son of Man had nowhere to lay His head. Embrace the power and be aware of the limits. Hmmm! That would be a good message for everyone and truly a good one for the politicians of our day, in fact, any day.
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