Power

Power. It's a strong word! But I was struck this morning by how Paul uses the word in his prayer for the church of Ephesus.

Ephesians 3:16-21

I pray that out of his glorious riches God may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

That's not the kind of power that gets much press these days. Hollywood-style power involves, inevitably, some combination of money, physical strength, and/or control over others. Furthermore, in Hollywood and in our popular imagination power is used to do things. Usually to beat up the bad guys.

Paul is clearly talking about something else. In this passage, power does not enable us to do anything at all. No baddies get wiped out. What kind of power is Paul talking about? Well, I'm not going to win any sleuthing awards here, but just from the text it is clear to see that through this power:

1. Christ dwells in our hearts, and
2. we can grasp how great Christ's love for us is

And... that's it. That's it. That's it for us, that is to say.

But we mustn't miss item #3. By this power which enables Christ to live in us and which enables us to know Christ's love.... by this power which is at work within us:

3. God is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.

Now the action is beginning to kick in. Here comes the action? Well, not quite. God himself (not us!) is "doing the doing."

So this is a different sort of power. It's not Hollywood power, not military power, not physical prowess, not monetary power... but on the other hand, given how these resources have been squandered and how many evils have been wrought by these means – no wonder God prefers to still be in control of this kind of power. Because this power is his power. Only God can be trusted to wield the power of God.

And therein lies the mystery, because God has chosen to do great things through us. If our deeds and words accomplish more than can be explained in human terms, then indeed it can be said that the power of God was at work within us.

So we face two choices. We can either accomplish nothing of eternal significance, and have the pleasure of pulling off that feat on our own, or we can allow God to include us in on his plans to accomplish immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine.

As I write these words, I think of the scoffers of this world. Great empires, of course, have been built by godless souls. But these empires are destined for dust. God is building an eternal kingdom, and it is toward this end that all his power is being exerted. Paul's words here cannot be improved upon...

1 Corinthians 3:10-15
Because of God’s grace to me, I have laid the foundation like an expert builder. Now others are building on it. But whoever is building on this foundation must be very careful. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have—Jesus Christ.
Anyone who builds on that foundation may use a variety of materials—gold, silver, jewels, wood, hay, or straw. But on the judgment day, fire will reveal what kind of work each builder has done. The fire will show if a person’s work has any value. If the work survives, that builder will receive a reward. But if the work is burned up, the builder will suffer great loss. The builder will be saved, but like someone barely escaping through a wall of flames.

God, let your power through me bring glory to yourself. May my work be empowered by you, that the fruits of my labor be deemed worthy of eternity.