When I was a kid one of my favorite things to do was play NERF basketball in my room. If you are old enough to remember, NERF basketball was a basketball-like game you played upon attaching a little flimsy goal to a door in your house. It also came with a small NERF ball that was sure not to harm anyone involved. Since I had two brothers, we spent hours playing in our rooms even though we probably drove our parents crazy with all the jumping on the floor above them. As we got older, the games became more intense because we were no longer interested in Larry Bird shots, but only dunking the ball like Michael Jordan. Soon the game came out of our rooms and into the family room mostly because our tiny bedroom could not hold three teenagers. This move from the bedroom to the family room was a dangerous one. All three of us now had more room to get a running start to dunk the ball over each other. My middle brother, Tim, was bigger than both me and my youngest brother combined and when he would get a good start, it was time to move out of the way.
One particular day we were playing, I think it was before my mom and dad got home from work, and Tim came in for a monster dunk smashing right into the wall making an outline hole of his body. We all stood there in disbelief – this had never happened before. The first greatest question to answer was, “How do we hide this from mom and dad?” When reality set in, we knew there was no way to hide this from them.
Some people spend their entire life attempting to hide things from others…their faults, weaknesses, frailties, and vulnerabilities. Most of the time our endeavors to hide the truth stems from a desire for others to think we are strong in every area – emotionally, physically, spiritually, and socially. However, God’s system seems to work a little differently. Paul writes that God’s power works best when you are weak (2 Corinthians 12:9) and He uses the weak things of the world to bring the powerful to shame (1 Corinthians 1:27). It is a mystery how God can take the weak and make them strong. I guess it has more to do with Him than it does with us.
