Watch your underbelly...I’m just saying

You never know what you will learn when you walk into someone's office. A friend owns Bluffton's first safe. It's not very big, has some interesting artwork, and was built to keep thieves from stealing its contents (like all safes). Ever since he took possession, the door was locked in the open positions. My friend had some numbers, but he couldn't get them to work. Was it twice to the left then once back, or spin it all the way around and start over? It seemed as if the safe would never be useable. That is until he met an old safecracker. Unlocking the safe is easy when you know how to take the back panel off the door and manipulate the tumblers. 

The safecracker took one look at the safe and said, "this an old turtle safe." I had the same question, "what's a turtle safe?" Turtle safes were nearly impenetrable with concrete reinforced walls. There was only one weakness; the bottom. To save money, they made the bottoms out of a thin tin. All a robber had to do was tip the safe over, expose the safe's soft underbelly, and in no time the safe's contents were stolen. The name refers to the soft underbelly of a turtle. The hard shell protects them, but turn them over, and before you know it, you have turtle soup.

Everyone has a weakness. Sampson had his hair (rather his ego), Achilles had his tendon, and the Apostle Paul had a thorn in his flesh. As men, we abhor weakness. We don't like to fail, let alone for anyone to see us cry. We would rather wander around for hours than ask for help. But it is our weaknesses that define us, not our strengths. The Apostle Paul said, "if I must boast, I will boast of the things that show my weakness." (2 Cor. 11:30). He knew that Jesus' power is perfected in our weakness (2 Cor. 12:9).  In our weakness, God works in our hearts to will and want to do his good pleasure. "For The sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities, for when I am weak, then I am strong." (2 Cor. 12:10).

There are many talented people in the church, and though God delights in our use of His gifts, he would rather see us struggle and depend on him than for us to build our ego in the accomplishments of our own ability. But don't be fooled. Satan is seeking to know our soft underbelly and exploit our weakness for his sake and the church's destruction. Once a weakness is exposed, Satan picks at it, and our flesh quickly gives in. That is why we need to hand over our weakness to the Father and ask Him to fill us with the Holy Spirit. He will empower us to walk according to the Spirit and not the flesh. 

Therefore, put on God's armor, and don't forget to adjust the breastplate of righteousness. If you forget, you will expose your soft underbelly. And the evil one might sift you like he did Peter. In it all, we trust Jesus, so that we can live for Him in His strength. I'm just saying…