Where’s the Power?

Power.

Gigantic earthmovers, mowing down boulders and trees and small mountains that stand in the path of progress. Space shuttles boiling huge clouds of exhaust in liftoffs that shake the earth for miles around. Prizefighters whose knockout punches instantly drop their opponent and send awestruck crowds into frenzied cheering.

Power is loud, we’re convinced. It’s in your face. It commands respect and it gets results. We bow to power. We step aside for it. We don’t argue with it. We stand back, impressed, and watch it work.

That’s why we Christians aren’t so sure we have it. Very few fireworks result from our prayers. Seldom are mountains moved by our service. Rarely are onlookers stunned by what’s happening in and through our lives. Yet Paul seemed so certain:

“I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know… his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength, which he exerted in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every title that can be given, not only in the present age but also in the one to come” (Eph. 1:18-21 NIV).

But we’re not looking for the power that raised Christ; we’re looking for the power of his death – the sky turning black, the ground shaking, the dead coming back to life. In strange contrast, Resurrection power didn’t make any mountains tremble – it merely rolled a stone from a door, with only a few soldiers as an audience. It didn’t flatten any buildings; it stepped effortlessly through locked doors. It didn’t send fireworks blazing across the night sky; it rose without fanfare into the clouds and returned to the Father.

That’s the Resurrection power that’s in us. Power that’s amazingly, astonishingly effortless and often deceptively low-profile. Power that doesn’t comand attention and parade its full capabilities. Power that works under the radar and behind the scenes. Still, it tramples down evil and gets the job done.

That’s why we can pray tonight and instantly, as soon as the words are out of our mouth, encourage believers in a Chinese underground meeting halfway around the world. That’s why we can listen to a distraught friend for an hour, and respond with one word, one sentence… and it is the word that sets them free, that opens their eyes to a truth they desperately needed to see. That’s why we can set a foot into the dark and dangerous unknowns that lie ahead, and watch the waters part and the way become clear and the obstacles fall left and right as though a Hand is parting them for us…

Resurrection power. It is at work in us who believe, although we’re often looking for something different. May the eyes of our heart be opened to see the power of the reigning Christ working in us and flowing from us this day, by the Spirit of the Risen One.