Formerly, when you did not know God, you were slaves to those who by nature are not gods. But now that you know God—or rather are known by God—how is it that you are turning back to those weak and miserable forces? Do you wish to be enslaved by them all over again? You are observing special days and months and seasons and years! I fear for you, that somehow I have wasted my efforts on you.

Weakness as defined by this world is different from how the Bible describes weakness. In the world, the powerful lord over the less powerful, the physically strong over the weak, the rich over the poor, and those in position over those who are not. Fear drives behavior and many live by “survival of the fittest”.

In God’s Kingdom, spiritual weakness and strength have a much different meaning. Take a look at the Beatitudes in Matthew 5: Blessed are the poor, those who weep, the meek, those who hunger after righteousness, those who are persecuted, those who are slandered against. Wow – the definition is almost a polar opposite.

Not only is strength and weakness drastically different in the world vs. the kingdom of God, so are the weapons we fight with and the way we fight our battles. “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have DIVINE POWER to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we TAKE CAPTIVE EVERY THOUGHT to make it obedient to Christ.” (II Corinthians‬ ‭10‬:‭3‬-‭5‬, emphasis mine)

In our past lives, before our commitment to follow Jesus by faith, we were slaves to our fears, this world system, our sins, and exploited in our weakness. But now we are known by the Almighty God! He loves us and planned for our rescue from sin by his Son, Jesus. We can have an intimate relationship with him!

So why on earth would we go back to our sinful ways? Sadly, I struggle with this temptation at times, as do many people. Sin left to fester in our hearts matures into a full-on pandemic of evil, and then one finds they are far away from God. But interestingly enough, he has not left … it is the sinner who distances himself from God.

“This is the verdict: Light has come into the world, but people loved darkness instead of light because their deeds were evil. Everyone who does evil hates the light, and will not come into the light for fear that their deeds will be exposed. But whoever lives by the truth comes into the light, so that it may be seen plainly that what they have done has been done in the sight of God.” (‭‭John‬ ‭3‬:‭19‬-‭21‬)

Am I willing to let myself be fully known by God? In doing so, will I step out into the light so all can see my weaknesses and sins and how it can only be God working through me?

Lord, take this broken vessel of a man and mold me and use me. You shine through my inadequacies and in spite of my weaknesses. Teach me to trust you and learn from you. Stretch my faith. And may I never look back to the way I used to live!