Our Inadequacy… God’s Omnipotence
by Lenn Zeller, Director of Conference Care
What a wonderful Annual Conference we enjoyed again this year! The facilities at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Rochester were fabulous, and the city enjoyable to explore. The fellowship with friends near and far, past and present was sweet and heartwarming. And the speakers and workshops were challenging and compelling.
One comment in particular made by Dr. Neil Hudson during the Tuesday morning plenary session struck me and has stuck with me. I may not have written the words precisely verbatim, but the gist of what he said was, “Our inadequacy as pastors in the face of the responsibilities we have keeps us dependent upon God.” I remember thinking at the time, “You got that right, brother!” And I have many times since then been confronted with the truth of that sentiment as I have faced various challenges at home, in the office and in the church.
That’s why the scripture above is so reassuring and uplifting. There the Apostle Paul talked about the hope to which God has called us in Christ, the glorious, eternal inheritance that awaits us by grace through faith, and His incomparably great power for us who believe. The challenges of ministry can be daunting. The obstacles are often steep and the demands endless. In and of ourselves, we have not the resources nor the strength to meet them.
But the good news is that we don’t have to face those challenges in our own strength. We have God’s incomparably great power at work within us, through the Spirit of the risen Christ in our hearts. And here is the amazing thing: the divine power and mighty strength which God exerted in Christ when God raised Him from the dead is the same power he offers to you and me in our service for the kingdom! The same power that was able to rescue Christ from death and the grave, and establish Him above all other powers and authorities in the universe, is made available to us who believe.
As one commentator expressed it: “We, then, who were once spineless nobodies, He makes into powerful somebodies. We who could do nothing to change the course of this world, can now move mountains and do greater things than Jesus Himself did.” (Matthew 21:21–22; John 14:12–13 and 15:7) In our own power we can do nothing. In Him, we can do all things.
Thank you, Dr. Hudson, for the sensible and erudite reminder that we are totally dependent on God for anything and everything involved in our mission and ministry in the Kingdom. Thank you, Apostle Paul, for the profound and hopeful reminder that our power and strength are not in us, but in God. And in God, all things are possible.
