ARE YOU STRONG ENOUGH?

One of the scenes in the animated movie The Incredibles that stands out in my mind is the scene where Bob Parr tells his wife Helen to run for cover while he takes care of Syndrome's robot on his own. Immediately, his wife starts questioning his intentions. Why does he have to do it alone? What would that prove?

"I...I'm not strong enough," Bob tells her, struggling for the right words to say.

"Strong enough? So this will make you stronger?" Helen retorts.

"Yes. No!" Bob is now getting agitated.

"That's what this is? Some sort of workout?"

Bob grips her by the arms and confesses, "I can't lose you again! I can't. Not again. I'm not strong enough."

Wow. What a dramatic moment. I'm amazed that, through this scene, the Lord gave me such a beauiful insight about who He is in our lives.

I must confess. I'm not exactly the epitome of strength. I doubt that people would get me to advertise Mr. Muscle, even if it is just a cleaning fluid (Tough on stains!). My body frame resembles that of a lamp post with shoulder blades. Opening my students' water jugs and lunchboxes is what I consider a workout. I don't engage in arm wrestling because I'm afraid of losing my arm in the process. I...well, you get the picture. I'm simply saying: "Being physically strong is not my...uhm...strength."

Bob Parr's lucky. He gets to join the ranks of the Thing and the Incredible Hulk...and he doesn't even have to look inhuman to be with them. He has enough upper body strength to lift things about 50 times his size. He can break through brick walls as if they weren't even there. He can juggle cars for fun. And best of all, he can beat up hardened criminals until they beg for mercy (which probably happens after just one punch). So, with all this physical strength by his side, he should be unbeatable, right?

Yet, during the climactic part of the movie, he confessed that he's not strong enough. It suddenly makes you think, What then is true strength?

While going through my copy of The Revolt Workbook last night, I stumbled upon a page with two different sets of Bible verses. The point of the activity on that page was to distinguish the true Biblical teachings from the fake ones. It was easy enough. One set of verses was pretty much self-centered in the sense that they all taught about accomplishing things using one's own strength, i.e. achieving righteousness using one's own effort. The other set of verses focused on the message of relying on God to do the changes in us so that we could pursue righteousness. I easily concluded that the latter contained the true Biblical teachings.

Aren't we all like Bob Parr sometimes? Because we are naturally gifted with certain talents and skills, we usually have the notion that we're strong enough to handle anything. We think that all it takes is our own individual effort. However, when difficulties arise, we realize that we're not as strong as we once thought. This was true for me in more than one occasion, especially when I involved myself in the praise and worship ministry. Because I have a good singing voice, I often rely too much on it to lead "worship." Eventually, I find myself exhausted and inevitably unwilling to subject myself to the "work" of having to lead worship always. The same is true whenever I embarked on any projects or goals I set for myself. My reliance on myself causes me to enter the battlefield with much energy and enthusiasm. However, in the end, I start to quote Bob Parr: "I'm not strong enough."

Then I think about Helen Parr's response to Bob Parr's emotional breakdown: "If we work together, you won't have to be." I'm suddenly reminded about God.

I think about God watching us do our own thing...trying, trying, trying. We want to do what is expected of us. But we just do it in our own strength. We insist on doing it on our own, believing too much on our own strength. God says, "You don't need to do it alone, you know." "No," we respond. "I've got to prove I can do it. I've got prove I can be a good Christian. I...I can't lose you again. I'm not strong enough." Then God holds us in a tight embrace and whispers, "You don't have to go through this moment of weakness if we work together."

Oh wow.

What an incredible God we have.

You see, God's definition of strength is so different from the world's definition. The world defines strength as a "solo" effort; God defines strength as a tag-team effort: yours...as well as His.