In the wild the weakest link gets eaten first, in God’s kingdom the last is the first. This Christian concept is in opposition to the way sin has led to the survival of the fittest or “natural” selection. I put natural in quotes because its not how natural looked like in the beginning. Natural was a constant commune with the Lord in ever green gardens, where the snake didn’t bite and the trees had no disease. Creation lived in harmony. God’s creation reflected His glory without defect.

There was a true enjoyment between the Lord and Adam and Eve in the garden. They would walk together with God, enjoying His intimacy and as a special gift they also got to enjoy intimacy with one another. We really can only taste a small part of the intimacy we will experience when we enter His heavenly kingdomOur fallen natural leaves us with a longing for this kind of unbroken intimacy. The need in ourselves, however, is not carnal its natural. The need has always been there, the longing stronger then than now, having been cast aside to displaced desires and unsatisfying outlets. . We have always been the weaker vessels, weaker than angels even in the beginning. Yet, we were given His image and made to rule over every living thing. (Genisis 1:27; Psalm 8:6)

When I look in the mirror I see different things in different moments. Often the scope of myself is effected by what my sphere is saying, what my head is thinking, what my expectations are, what I look like on a bad hair day, and all the other realities. I find that I leave little room for weakness or I just avoid looking.

When we do not allow space for weakness in our lives we do not allow God to be at work in us. For if we do not give Him full authority and we hold back our hearts we risk filling the parts of ourselves we keep hidden with a different authority and its truths. We see from John 8 that the devil is that opposing force and, “when he lies, he speaks out of his own character, for he is a liar and the father of lies. (vs. 44).

Trying to fix ourselves or be strong in oursevles is one way we keep those parts from God. If its not God that is holding the authority than its the enemy. We as believers may not be able to be possessed because the house belongs to the Lord, but in what rooms are we allowing God into? Is God only allowed in the living room or can he come into the kitchen? “Submit yourselves therefore to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.” James 4:7 The enemy will try everything to get into the places we keep hidden because His goal is to steal and destroy, but God will never force His way into a crack in door, He desires a fully open heart.

There are parts of all our lives that we think we are keeping safe that the enemy has actually gotten into like our hurts and pains. Then enemy likes those weak spots, wounds are the easiest to put pressure on to make it bleed and cause infection. But God’s healing power is like oil on our wounds:

Why do you cry out over your wound,
    your pain that has no cure?
Because of your great guilt and many sins
    I have done these things to you. Isaiah 30:15

But I will restore you to health
    and heal your wounds,’
declares the Lord, Isaiah 30:15

We were never meant to be the fixer force of our hearts we were meant to be the mirror itself. Mirrors are honest: What you see is what you get. They reflect what is there, they show what we look like for better or worse. Who you allow to stand looking into the mirror is who you will reflect. Let Jesus be the one to stand in front of the mirror. Let Him look at you. His reflection will always be radiant and never lacking in joy.

You can spend the effort of shining back the brilliance of our Jesus rather than wasting energy fixing what you see in the reflection. He will look at you and say: “you look like more than a conqueror.” He says, “you look like royalty, I can see you dressed in purple.” He sees you as you are in Him: spotless, a son or daughter, one who shares in the great inheritance. He is not a liar, what He says is the truth. Stop doubting the reflection of Christ in you and give Him your weakness so that His authority can become its utmost in your life. You were made to shine brilliantly.

Shining the brillance of Christ is the best job you will ever be have and it will be fufilling because it is what you were made for. Christ came so that you might be restored to your calling as children of God and be made free from the curse of death.

“Now since the children [those that God made] have flesh and blood, He too shared in their humanity, so that by His death He might destroy him who holds the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.” Hebrews 2:14-15

It is now in this Authority through Christ’s death that we can answer the great commission of all believers because that authority goes before us and lives in us:

⁸ Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. ¹⁹ Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, ²⁰ and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

Today if you are tired of struggling, or being heavy laden, will decide to be weak in the presence of the Lord, you will have found treasure that will reside in your heart and shine out of you as if putting a candle in a broken vessel of clay. That treasure can not be diminised but will grow ever brighter till the full light of day when Christ appears and we rise with Him in His glory. There’s a piece of heaven waiting on your surrender today. Will you let go to His Love for you?