Strength By Faith

When we were still without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.

Romans 5:6

Imagine the foolishness of a politician or social reformer going to a cemetery to preach his message: “Be better, be just, be tolerant, be committed, be stronger,” he would call out. The response he got would be the same as when the living are exhorted to live strong lives without the empowerment of God. Physically dead people have no strength by which to act, nor do those without the Holy Spirit.

When Peter and John went to the Temple in Jerusalem one afternoon, they encountered a man crippled from birth begging for money outside the Temple gate. He was totally without strength in his legs—he was carried there daily by his friends. Peter and John had no money to give him, so they gave him what he needed more: strength and an opportunity to praise God. The man’s healing and his exuberant praise paint a beautiful picture of what Christ has done for us. When we lacked spiritual strength because of our sin, Jesus died for us, removing the sin and giving us new strength in the Spirit. All we needed to do was believe in Him.

You do not need your own strength to receive God’s strength. You need only do what the crippled man did: believe God’s message and rejoice.

We have no power from God unless we live in the persuasion that we have none of our own.

JOHN OWEN