“May you be made strong with all the strength that comes from his glorious power, and may you be prepared to endure everything with patience, while joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has enabled you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the light” (Colossians 1:11-12).
“I’m Popeye the sailor man, I’m Popeye the sailor man, I’m strong to the finich, cause I eats me spinach, I’m Popeye the sailor man!”
It’s not great music, and it’s horrible grammar, but this song and its associated cartoon character were, in my childhood, one of the symbols of strength. No matter what happened to Popeye, no matter what foe had him trapped, no matter who was threatening his beloved Olive Oyl, all Popeye had to do was to eat a can of spinach and he was instantly strong enough to defeat the bad guys. In every instance, around every corner, there was always something Popeye could do to enhance his physical strength and win the day.
Of course, Popeye’s strength didn’t last. He had to keep eating spinach in order to stay strong (which is interesting, because he always had those big muscles, so what were they for when he didn’t each spinach?). His strength came from something he did. In a sense, he earned his strength.
Strength...what is it and how do you get it? For Popeye, the answer was physical strength and you get it from spinach. Though no one relies on spinach in the non-cartoon world, there are lot of people whose only desire is for physical strength. They have to be better, bigger, stronger than everyone else. They work out, lift weights, bulk up their bodies in order to prove and show their strength. But is that what true strength is? Is physicality all there is?
Paul has a different hope for those who follow Jesus, and it has to do with strength, but not physical strength. Paul says strength comes not from spinach or body building but from God. And it’s not something we earn; it’s something we are given as a gift. The word Paul uses for “strength” is “dunamis,” from which we get the word “dynamite.” It has to do with inherent power, that which resides in a person, the abilities God has given you. Paul’s prayer for the Colossians is that such abilities will be enhanced, strengthened, made more powerful and useful not by our own abilities but by God’s power (God’s “dynamite”). Paul’s prayer is that God’s power would explode within us, giving us the strength and the power and the ability to do what we are called to do. It’s a description, really, of what happened on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2, when the power of God, through the working of the Holy Spirit, exploded among the people in the Upper Room, giving them the strength to speak to those gathered in Jerusalem about the saving power of Jesus Christ. And, that day alone, according to Acts, three thousand people came to know Jesus. That’s some mighty strength!
What, do you suppose, might happen in your life if you let the power of God explode enough to give you his strength rather than your own?