At first glance, Rolf Klasson, a gray-haired Swede who hobbles around on his walker, looked like an easy target. At least that’s what two would-be robbers thought as they accosted him at a cash machine.

One of the thugs waved a knife while the other thug told Klasson to turn over his wallet. They didn’t know that their victim was also the former European light-middleweight boxing champ.

Klasson warned them, “This isn’t going to go well” before he punched their lights out.

Now if this had happened in America, can you not see the thugs suing the man for assault and battery or figuring out a way to blame him for their injuries and insults? But not in Sweden. A spokesman for the police praised the former boxer for his efforts.

“It was well done. One does have the right to defend oneself,” she told NLT.

For his part, Klasson summed up the incident thusly: “They came after the wrong guy.”

Often, we think of weakness as, well, weakness. Strength is praised, and is often seen in the “Survivor” mentality. That is, only the fit are worthy of the prize.

That fitness is not always measured in terms of physical fitness, but often is more political or emotional in nature. And we often treat those who are unfit as unworthy of existence, of having our flame snuffed out and being thrown off the island.

This came to light recently when I heard of a Christian firefighter who was talking with one of his co-workers. This colleague claimed boldly that he was not interested in Jesus because “belief in Jesus is for weak people!”

If you think about it, that statement is quite significant. It is akin to saying that “firefighters are for weak people!” No one is saying that. In fact, no one whose house is on fire gets mad at the fire department for coming by to help them put out the fire.

They do not rebuke the firefighters saying that they could have handled it on their own, proclaiming that “firefighters are for weak people.”

You and I know that fire departments are for “weak” people because there is something which they deal with that we simply can’t deal with on our own — fire.

If the truth be known, we really look up to and admire those men and women who have committed their lives to fighting fire, simply because they have dedicated themselves to dealing with that significant power, even if it means they may sacrifice their own lives for ours.

The tendency these days is to downplay weaknesses and to exalt and elevate our own strength and power and, yes, even wealth. But in the Bible, we are told that “… the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Corinthians 1:25).

If a community is considered to be “weak” because it has a fire department on call and standing at the ready to fight this power, is it not also true that Christians are weak in the same way?

True followers of Jesus Christ are people who recognize and admit that a power exists that they cannot personally deal with and survive — the righteousness of God.

This, however, is not cause for shame, because there was a man, Jesus, who dealt with that power at his own personal expense on a cross. We know absolutely that He dealt with that power successfully because of Easter. He rose from the dead, and the tomb is an empty one!

His resurrection is proof positive that He satisfied God’s requirements for righteousness and holiness.

In one of our former ministry opportunities, I encountered a very godly (and wealthy) and influential elderly woman who held these verses in the first chapter of 1 Corinthians in high esteem. Her specific claim to fame was in the next verse, where we read, “For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong” (1 Corinthians 1:26-27).

She always praised God, saying that she was “saved by the letter ‘M’.” For you see, she was wise, and some would consider her mighty and noble. The verse uses the term “many” and did not say “any”!

When someone is rescued from the flames, they’re not thinking about their weakness. They are not even thinking about their strengths, their wealth, or their powerful influence; they’re overjoyed that someone would risk it all to save them.

God bless …

Chuck Tabor is a regular columnist for the Times-Gazette and the News Journal. He is also the former Pastor of Port William UMC.