WHAT STRENGTH OF YOURS CAN EASILY BECOME A WEAKNESS?

WHAT STRENGTH OF YOURS CAN EASILY BECOME A WEAKNESS?

 

 

Have you ever thought about the fact that, before you even realize it, one of your strengths could become a weakness? Is that a frightening thought? How does that happen? You’ve heard stories of how someone with a superior intellect figured out how to beat the system or how someone of notoriety became deceitful. How can you guard against any type of craziness like this happening to you? It is only by becoming aware of your strengths and asking for God’s protection of those strengths to be used for his glory and his plan for your life.

 

 

LOOK ON THE FLIP SIDE

 

 

Think about this: good looks or wealth can lead to pride. Excessive privilege can invite hardheartedness and injustice. Leadership can turn into control or manipulation. Generosity can lead to overspending on others. Physical strength can turn into abuse. Friendliness can turn into inappropriate flirtation. Obsessive planning can destroy spontaneity and cause rigidity. Ruth Graham has a great personal example of a strength becoming a weakness.

 

 

RUTH GRAHAM CAN BE TOO KIND

 

 

Ruth is the youngest daughter of Ruth and Billy Graham and calls herself the Graham that has traveled a different path.  In her recent book, In Every Pew Sits a Broken Heart, she shares graciously and honestly about her struggle through divorce; parenting her children through their own difficulties, including teenage pregnancies, drug abuse, and an eating disorder; the darkness of depression; and the challenge of reinventing

herself at age forty. Ruth is transparent and honest as she brings a new and biblical perspective to her journey of faith, presenting a real God for real life.

 

 

Ruth is real in her faith. No easy answers. No platitudes.

 

 

Currently the Lord is teaching her more about trust. And he is giving her many opportunities to do just that! For Ruth, the crux of faith is to “trust in the dark,” when she is outside of her comfort zone. For her, faith is a “hold on tight” kind of lifestyle—like Jacob at Peniel as he wrestled with the Lord. She feels she is called to be a channel of God’s grace, to minister his mercy, restoration, and healing to those who are hurting,

often alone and in silence. Her desire is to create a safe place for others, encouraging them to let down their masks so that healing and restoration can take place.

 

 

Ruth has one strength that easily becomes a weakness. She is caring and compassionate, but the flip side of this strength is her failure to set healthy boundaries. When people take advantage of that, she ends up feeling used and unsure of how to correct the situation lovingly. Once she hired a worker for a project. When the worker’s child was tragically killed, Ruth felt deep compassion, and rightly so. But over time, in her compassion, she did not set limits and expectations so it was not long before she felt taken advantage of. Rather than confronting the person directly, she simply refused the worker’s services again. In retrospect, she sees that she and the worker both lost out in the long run.

 

 

She says, “We take pride in our strengths. Very often they are God-given gifts and he desires to see us operate in them. But there is the danger that we will become self-sufficient or abuse these strengths, using them in ways he does not intend. Our strengths become our comfort zones and we refuse to let God stretch us beyond those areas that make us feel secure. Sometimes he forces us out of these comfort zones away from our strengths so that we learn in new ways to depend on him.”

 

 

What Strength of Yours Can Easily Become a Weakness?

Some Roman Soldiers Had a Strength That Became a Serious Weakness

 

 

The Roman soldiers who arrested Christ and nailed him to the cross were strong men who were given much authority. Yet they chose to abuse their power, letting it turn into extreme cruelty. Read Matthew 27:27–31. As you reflect on their story, imagine yourself as one of the soldiers. What do you notice?

 

 

SCRIPTURE TO PONDER

 

 

Woe to those who go down to Egypt for help, who rely on horses, who trust in the multitude of their chariots and in the great strength of their horsemen, but do not look to the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from the LORD. (Isaiah 31:1)

 

 

SUGGESTED PRAYER

 

 

Dear Lord God, woe to me, _________, and to those who go anywhere else for help, who rely on anyone else, who trust in numbers or great strength of anything else, but do not look to you, the Holy One of Israel, or seek help from you. Today I pray that I will be intently aware of my responsibility to use my strengths wisely and to devote them wholly to your glory.

 

 

So . . . What Insight, Prayer, or Action Step Has God Laid on Your Heart Today?