A Dangerous Day

As I reflect back on the CCEF conference in October, I keep thinking about something Ed Welch, the opening speaker,  called a "dangerous day."

A day where you woke up feeling alright, the kitchen was stocked with your coffee/breakfast, the car was functioning, traffic was okay, and the work you had to do that day went relatively well.

Welch says, "Then you come home, and perhaps you have a family or another person you eat with, and you pray at dinner. And there's this odd thought that might come to your mind. 'Oh, this is the first time I've spoken to Jesus all day.' “

He asked us: "How long can you go without saying to Jesus, 'Thank you' or 'I need you?' "

A dangerous day is not what we’d normally think. It’s not a bad day, it could even be a relatively good day. It’s a day where you could go the whole day without thinking about God, without crying out to Him, without asking for His help. I think about how I crave those trouble-less days, yet they are a trap because I can so easily forget about God and lean into the lie that I am capable of doing life without Him. 

I want to be strong. I want to feel strong and feel in control. And I am frustrated (and sometimes depressed) by the list of things that make me feel weak and incapable. When I pray to God for help in these areas, it’s because I want to grow strong enough to not need His help anymore. I don’t like feeling weak and needing help.

But it is in our weakness that we can see the power and glory of Christ. It is where we must hope that God is strong when we are not.  It is where we are reminded, God is strong and we are not. If we trust in our strength, we will eventually fall short and grow depressed or anxious. But if we trust in the Lord’s strength, we are liberated and set free to be weak. 

It’s one thing to acknowledge your weakness, and an entirely different thing to even boast of them. Yet, this is what Paul writes :

 "But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me." (2 Corinthians 12:9)

It’s hard to think of something in life that illustrates this concept— but I think about the advanced technology of these expensive, powerful cordless stick vacuums that I always see promoted by friends, family, and social media. The latest models sport a green light that can illuminate every particle of dirt on your floor. There is something very strangely satisfying about vacuuming your floor and finding all the particles of dirt you did not realize were there. And rather than be distressed by the dirt, you rejoice that you now can see just how much you needed your vacuum. You rejoice that your vacuum is so capable and powerful on your behalf.

I think that vacuum helps me understand a bit more about what it means to boast in our weakness, so that the power of Christ may be revealed. My weakness is like the vacuum’s green light, illuminating my need to be saved, my intrinsic need for a Savior. 

A dangerous day is one where I am walking through my life with no light. I think that I am fine, and I am lulled into a cheap sense of peace in the ordinary comforts of a tidy house, a working car, orderly finances… But there is a better eternal peace in Christ and sometimes I need to be stripped of my ordinary comforts to see they are fleeting. When my children are bickering, when I am losing my temper and want to disengage, when finances feel tight, when I can’t keep up with my responsibilities at work or with the piles of laundry and dishes— it is easier to see where I am failing than winning. These are all the particles of dirt in my life on full display. 

Will I see the other side of the story? Yes, these are my weaknesses on display. But how can I turn to God in these places and ask for His help and lean on His grace? My weakness is not a sin, it is who I am as a human. Until Christ returns, I will always find dirt particles on the floor of my house. 

Can God help me in my daily needs and by the Holy Spirit, equip me to little by little resemble more of Christ? Yes. Will there surely come a day in which every particle of dirt will be wiped clean and there will no longer be brokenness and suffering? Yes! Yes and Amen. We look to God for our daily needs and we hope in the day when all our longings will be completely fulfilled. Until that Day, we can boast in our weaknesses that illumine our need, remind us to hope in our Savior (not ourselves), and cause our hearts to long for that eternal day that is to come.