Weaknesses

Colossians 3:12-17 (KJV) Says, "Put on therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering; Forbearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so also do ye. And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness. And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him."

In the above scripture taken from the book of Colossians we are given a list of Christian virtues that we should adopt after accepting God's precious gift of salvation. Jesus set an example of how we are to live once we become a new creature in Christ. As the above scripture tells us we are to be merciful, kind, humble, meek, patient, forgiving, loving, and we are to allow the peace that comes with having a personal relationship with Christ to rule our hearts. With that said none of us are perfect, and we will never be. God understands that, but as Christians we are to continually work on the areas in our lives where weaknesses exist. We must make a conscience effort to follow the example Jesus set for us, and be the best that we can be. Our behavior serves as a portion of our witness to the lost, and if we act no different lost people after having accepted Christ, then what does that say? We all have areas that are weaker than others, and we need to focus on those areas, and begin working to improve them. It helps to remember that everything we say or do, as the above scripture tells us, should be said or done in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God and the Father by Him.

Go to God in prayer, and ask him for help with any area you are having difficulty in. For instance if you lack patience, ask God to help you to be more patient. He may send some tests your way or he may already be attempting to help you by testing you, but you have failed to realize it. If you have little or no patience, God may have you stuck in traffic daily, you may land in the longest checkout lines everywhere you go, you may get behind a slow poke driver on a regular basis, your spouse may begin taking even more time getting ready to go out, your boss may become more and more difficult, and these are just a few examples of things that may be put before you in order to help you work on improving in the area of patience. If your behavior doesn't change, you will  more than likely continue to be tested until you condition yourself, and adopt the Christian virtue of patience.

Have you ever wondered why you are placed in situations that make you angry, if you have anger issues? Maybe you have a problematic boss, and you allow him or her to make you angry every single day. Has it ever occurred to you that you need to work on controlling your anger, and that may be the very reason for you being in the situation you are in. As followers of Christ we should be able to control our tempers, and not allow anger to rule our spirit. The sooner we recognize that the problem we are having may be secondary to an area of weakness within us, the sooner we can begin working on improving that area. If you are being tested with things that make you angry, be honest with yourself as to whether or not you have anger issues, and are possibly being tested. If your answer is yes, then address your anger issue immediately, and that may limit or do away with the problems you are having with your boss.

We all have weaknesses, and we all fall short. Knowing this should make it a bit easier for us to be more compassionate with others, when they fall short. Unfortunately, that is not usually the case. I urge you to consider your own areas of weakness the next time you see someone else struggling with one of theirs. I encourage you to begin working on the areas that you need improvement in, and I believe when you do you will notice your tests become fewer and fewer. God knows our hearts, and he knows when we are making an honest effort to improve on the things we need to improve on within ourselves. We will never be perfect, and following the behavioral example of perfection that Jesus set for us is a goal we as mere humans will never be able to duplicate, but it is something that we should strive for the remainder of our earthly lives. I encourage you to take an inventory of yourself and identify your areas of weakness so that you can begin working on them right away. No one other than God knows you better than you know yourself.

If you have a prayer request and would like me to pray for you, leave me a message and I will be more than happy to do so. May God bless you.