The Dillema of Being Christian

     The dillema of being Christian is that in our pursuit of Christ we often long to divorce ourselves from our weakness. But the weakness that comes with being human is given to us by God. It is so much a part of our nature that some of the spiritual beings called angels could not accept God's sharing of the Divine Nature with us by bequeathing us with souls. These angels turned against God and became what we know today as devils, our enemies. And so our existence on Earth begins, a tense life of warfare in which we struggle against the very thing God has given us.
     Christ came into the world, embracing human weakness "to take on the form of a slave", for that is what we are: servants of the authority of God. He required of himself obedience to the Father, which led to his death on the cross. The ultimate weakness is death. Jesus accepted it.
     Jesus shared our weakness, but he never sinned. We are weak in many ways, but unfortunately we are also very sinful. We need to learn that while weakness is necessary, sin is not required. Weakness is not merely unavoidable, it is necessary. Before celebrating the Easter Eucharist, we sing a prayer in church: "O neccesary fault, that won for us so great a Savior!" Knowing that in our weakness it was impossible for us to save ourselves, God set our life in motion on the earth, plagued by Satan who seeks our eternal destruction, who waits at every opportunity to oppress and mislead us. But Satan is not our weakness, nor does he make us weak. "In our weakness is Glory, in Jesus the Christ."
     We began as slaves to God's authority, but he has lifted us from slavery to call us his children. Human weakness is our treasure, given to us by our Father. Part of the task of living is to open up the gifts God gives us and learn to use them. We can't learn to use our weakness if we are avoiding God's authority and will. We are here on this earth because God wills it. We are weak here because God wills it. Our weakness makes us hungry for God and so we are restless, always seeking him. What happens, then, when we face our own weakness and contemplate it--not as an obstacle, but as an avenue to Christ? In our weakness is glory... In our weakness, Christ is waiting.
     Do we have the courage to know him?