The Christian life is impossible for humans to live.  Jesus said, ?I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.? (John 15:5) It has always been so.  That?s why the disciples had to wait in Jerusalem after the resurrection ? for power. (Acts 1:4-8)  Such absence of self-reliance and self-sufficiency flies in the face of the Western world?s ?unlimited human potential? approach to life. 

Too often it is our approach to church as well.  After all, why wait for God when we can manipulate things our way through television, nominating committees, stewardship campaigns, forced levels of education, and grasped leadership in the name of upholding traditions or in the name of breaking them?  All of those thing are fine when actually empowered by God, but alone they are, well, Godless and powerless to accomplish anything eternal beyond this mortal life.

For the sake of our athletes, and peace in the world, I do hope that God has enabled the Greeks to set up security beyond what they could do only by their own effort.  After that, the Olympics should remain a place where unaided human accomplishment is showcased.  Church, however, must be a place where, through Jesus, we only do what is more than humanly possible.

Pastor Tim Davis, Copyright 2004
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