Amanda BethSharing the Truths Behind the TRUTH

Nov 19th Monday’s Guest Blog: “I’ve Got To Be Strong” By Larry Buxton

Sorry I haven’t been posting my normal messages. Now that my book is published, I have more time to focus on blogging. Next Monday, I will be starting a new series titled “Preparing for our calling.” Looking over the last twelve years since I started following Christ, I can now understand the reasons why God had me do certain things and abstain from certain things.  Every lesson He’s taught me, and continues to teach me, has been in preparation for my calling. I’m looking forward to this series and sharing the lessons God’s taught me to prepare me for His perfect plan.

Today, I want to share a message I read last week that really ministered to me. With Thanksgiving (in the U.S.) and Christmas coming up, this is the busiest time of year for many. This time of year can be overwhelming when you already have so much on your plate. I pray this message by Larry ministers to you and encourages you that you don’t have to have it all together. We were not meant to do it all!

I’ve Got To Be Strong

By Larry Buxton

“Who do you THINK you are?!!”

“I’m Hub McCann. I’ve fought in two World Wars and countless smaller ones on three continents. I led thousands of men into battle with everything from horses and swords to artillery and tanks. I’ve seen the headwaters of the Nile, and tribes of natives no white man had ever seen before. I’ve won and lost a dozen fortunes, KILLED MANY MEN and loved only one woman with a passion a FLEA like you could never begin to understand. That’s who I am!”

That is one of my favorite scenes from the movie “Second Hand Lions.” Walter, Garth, and Hub are sitting in a diner/grocery store eating lunch when a group of hooligans come in and start trouble.  One of the teenagers tries to take Hub’s lunch and Hub knocks his hand away. The surprised teen asks “who do you think you are?”  Hub puts him in his place physically and TELLS the teen WHO he is.

Satan uses many lies in attempt to rob us of our identity in Christ.  The most common lie that Satan wants us to believe is that we have to be strong. We have to hold it all together.  If it’s going to be, it’s going to be up to me. That we have got to pull ourselves up by our boot straps, that we have to work harder, that we have to perform and that we’ve got to produce.

No matter how strong you are, your strength is limited.  Eventually, you will run out of steam.  If you could be completely honest, you might admit this is a predicament in which you currently find yourself.  You feel life is throwing more at you than you can handle.  The expectations are overwhelming. You’ve got too much going on.  And, you just don’t know how you’re going to accomplish it all.

The TRUTH is YOU can’t get it all done because you are not created by God to have all the ability in your own strength.  Your strength is intentionally limited.  God’s strength is UN-limited, and that’s why God wants us not to depend on our own limited abilities, but to do life empowered by His unlimited spiritual power.

Far too many of us are ‘doing life’ out of our own limited strength, and we end up frustrated, worn out, and simply unable to get anything done.  The prophet Isaiah said in chapter 40:30-31:

Even youths grow tired and weary,

and young men stumble and fall;

but those who hope in the Lord

will renew their strength.

They will soar on wings like eagles;

they will run and not grow weary,

they will walk and not be faint.

Scripture assures us we will soar like eagles! But, unfortunately, most men I know fly more like humming birds.  Watch a humming bird in flight.  The tiny creature flaps its wings 40-80 times per second while rushing from one flower to the next. We often resemble hummingbirds in our day to day lives:  Got to do this…(rush) got to pay the bills…(rush) Got to get the project done…(rush) got to study for my test…(rush) I can’t get it all done…(rush) You’re making me mad…(rush) I know I’ve got to be strong…(rush)

On the other hand, set your gaze on an eagle in flight. Watch it soar. Scripture says those who hope in the Lord ‘soar.’  There’s no anxiety-ridden effort and frustration in ‘soaring.’  The wind of the Spirit does the lifting.

The lie is ‘we have to be strong.’  But the truth is, “You have to be weak, broken, vulnerable, and dependent.”

2 Corinthians 12:9-10:  But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.  That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

You must embrace that you will NEVER get it all done.  God is able to do more through your weakness than he ever could through your strengths.

Who do you think you are?

 You can read more messages by Larry at his blog: http://secondmilem3n.blogspot.com/

Who is Larry Buxton?

Larry Buxton epitomizes the all American guy who works like a mad man, loves his wife & family, and is passionate about sharing the good news of Christ’s love from whatever platform God gives him.

With a unique teaching style. Larry is able to communicate a story by targeting his message effectively to a variety of listeners or readers. His style is simple and straightforward, littered (yes, littered) with his own experiences, but full of teaching grounded in the Word, sometimes uncomfortably.

Larry’s ministry experience over the last dozen years includes pastoring a small baptist congregation, serving as a youth pastor, and ministering to students who are into one of his personal passions, skateboarding, through a ministry he calls Sk8fusion. Countless kids have come to know Jesus by attending ‘skate church’ or other skate events organized by Larry.

He and his family currently attend Newspring Family Church in Jenks, Oklahoma where he writes a weekly mens’ devotional through his blog Second Mile Men. His day job is as owner of Buxton Electric, LLC.

*Thank you, Larry, for allowing me to repost  your inspiring message!