What Inspires You?
What makes you want to move forward, rather than languishing in self-loathing, despair, boredom, or apathy?
In short: what inspires you?
What moves you to action?
What makes you live as if something matters….
as if you have a singular, spectacular, powerful focus?
And have you ever thought about this…
What if humility, at its core, is really a deinvestment of power?
This morning I was reading in 2 Corinthians, mumbling ever so quietly to myself as I read, when a passage got me excited. Paul is talking about the life they (he and his co-conspirators) enjoyed as followers of Christ:
with the voice of truth and the power of God;
armed on the right and armed on the left with righteousness from God;
whether respected or loathed,
praised or critcized as frauds,
and yet true;
as unknown to this world, yet well known to God;
as dying, and yet we live;
as punished, and yet not executed;
as sorrowful, yet we continually rejoice;
as the poorest of the poor, yet bringing richness to all;
as possessing nothing, yet holding the key to all things. (6:7-10)
Two questions, from earlier, still stick out after reading this passage:
What inspired them?
Where do we see humility, as a deinvestment of power, in the expression of Paul’s life?
We get a glimpse, a little earlier in chapter 5, of what he’s reflecting on: “The controlling force in our lives is the love of Jesus. And our confession is this: one died for all; therefore, all have died. The reason he died for us is so that we will all live, not for ourselves, but for Him who died and rose from the dead. Because of all that God has done, we now have a new perspective. We used to show regard for people based on worldly standards and interests. No longer.”
Now that’ll preach.
Does the death and resurrection beckon you to live in light of a new perspective?
Does it inspire you to treat power differently?
Because we do nothing without the light of relationality, any conversation about power is actually a conversation about relationships. So then power, as we understand it and operate with it, is about how we “show regard for people.”
In Paul’s poetic explanation of their life and values, it’s amazing to see how inspired they live by things most of us would pity. It’s called humility, and it means they understand power and beauty and truth and love in a different way. They’re inspired to live in light of a new reality.
Old reality:
health [but paranoid]
success [but enslaved]
money [but jealous]
power [but selfish]
New reality:
suffering [but free]
dying [but empowered]
downtrodden [but joyful]
poor [but generous]
The death and resurrection, the love and humility, the passion and beauty of Jesus inspired them. His story became their defining reality.
Disciples are learning to walk in the explicated and embodied reality of their Master.
Go and die,
and then live freely, empowered, joyful, and generously.
I'm a runner, writer, thinker, and pastor. I love to agitate people's consciences. I like to spend my time reading, running, and relaxing with family & friends.