Strength and weakness

My devotion this morning brought three truths to bear on my mind.  1) “Whenever the Lord grants us great success, we should not be surprised if people envy us.”  This is important to remember from two aspects.  As stated, when we have been granted success, we need to be prepared for criticism and opposition.  The same sovereign Lord that granted the success can also supply the strength and discernment to handle the jealousy of others. Secondly, we must be cautious of the criticism we mete out to others.  Is it a just criticism or just jealousy?  Across our nation there are many large and apparently successful churches.  We may disagree with the methods and teachings of some of these churches.  These issues may be anything from the clearly heretical, to those that have more to do with form, style, taste, or preference.  We must be cautious to bring Scripture to bear on these issues and not merely our personal preference.  2) “If any have estranged themselves from us, they are not to be repelled when they again offer themselves to us.”  We all want grace and mercy, but are often reluctant to give the same to others.  Matthew 5:9 tells us that God blesses the peacemaker, and in chapter 18 we are told that our forgiveness is to be extended to those who have offended us over and over.  How much should we forgive others?  Well, how much has God forgiven us?  3) “Our greatest strength is also our greatest weakness.”  This is the point that actually moved me to write this blog.  Some of us may have only one or two strengths while others of us may have been blessed with many strengths.  Concurrently, the number of strengths we have is at the least, the number of our weaknesses.  We may have more weaknesses than strengths, but we will certainly not have less.  Maybe your strength is in the understanding and exposition of Scripture; then you must guard against the arrogance that can lead you to trust in your own understanding and therefore lead you into heresy (or at the very least, majoring in the minors or minoring in the majors).  Is your strength a great love and compassion for others?  Then you must guard against the desire to compromise truth because you want someone to feel loved and accepted.  What about discernment?  If this is your strength, you must also guard against arrogance that shows forth itself as a critical spirit.  Many are the strengths with which our Father in Heaven may bless us with for the work He has set before us; but we must be continually before His face and be immersed in His Word so that we may guard against perverting His gifts to us.  And we must always remember that it is in our total reliance on the Lord that we find our true strength; and the purpose and goal of these strengths is His glory.  Now and Forever!


The stimulus for this post comes from my morning devotional reading in Tabletalk from Ligonier Ministries.