Reflections By Dr. Richard Reed

When the fireworks are over, the smell of sulfur still lingers in the air, and the official holiday is over, you can still the sound of one lonely leftover firecracker snaping in the night. Many people enjoy their Fourth of July picnics, parades, cookouts, and firework displays.

We know in the midst of our celebrating, relaxing, and day off from other activities, that the floats and bands are but a symbol of the dedication and decisions made to start this grand experiment in democracy. Independence Day is a day when we can either take ourselves too seriously or not seriously enough. If we take our freedoms too seriously we forget to enjoy what they have brought to our lives. If we don’t take them seriously enough, we wrongly think they will always be present.

We want to see ourselves as a people, as a nation that can achieve any goal. We like to think of ourselves as busting at the seams with good ideas, good intentions, and good results. On the other hand, we must also admit there are things we cannot do, problems we cannot solve, and forces we cannot control. We live in this paradoxical state that seeks the best of the past in our striving of the present.

Paul undoubtedly also faced this same paradox when he wrote to the Corinthians (2 Cor. 12:2-10). The Corinthian church had sought to engage the apostle in some good old boasting, a battle of one-upmanship in order to determine whose words should hold the most authority among the Corinthian believers.

But Paul doesn’t fight fair. He turns the concept of boasting upside down and instead of laying claim to all of his great works or listing all of his accomplishments, he will boast only of his weakness. Paul states, “Whenever I am weak, then I am strong.”

How can we hope to understand such a peculiar assertion? That weakness produces strength? That the appearance of having less can truly equal great abundance? After all, we generally just want to make it through one more day. We want to get through with the activities and needs of this day so we can be ready for the next.

If we are going to survive in life you have to be strong. You have to have strength. You need the ability to tough out the competition and make it through long and lonely nights. At least, that is what we are taught. Weakness being strength is a strange thought, but such thoughts are often reflected in our words and memories.

Why is it that we recall our single greatest naval defeat, the attack on Pearl Harbor, and see exhibited in it one of the greatest examples of spirit and loyalty in this nation?

Why is it that we remember the darkest and most evil years of discrimination, and see in them great demonstrations of love, commitment, and bravery?

Why is it we made a movie to re-live the tension and helplessness of watching the crippled Apollo 13 hobble slowly back to earth, and see in it the prayers and hopes of the whole country?

Why is it that we remember 9-11 and the sense of powerlessness as people died, and yet we see a strong resurgence in national identity and a sense of community?

Do we have a glimmer of understanding, that when we are weak, we are made strong? Only when we keep our true frailty directly in front of our eyes, can we keep a clear vision of ourselves and our mission. May you find the freedom and life that can comes only as a gift through faith in our Savior.