TAKING ON WHAT ISN’T NATURAL

We urge you, brethren, admonish the unruly, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, and be patient with all men.  I Thess. 5:14

When I read Paul’s list of suggestions, there are a few that come easily for me and one that doesn’t.  It’s easy to want to do what I’m good at and ignore what is not intrinsically part of my nature.  For me, my Achilles’ heel is admonishing the unruly.  I’d rather have a root canal and I’m serious.  Put the fainthearted and the weak in my path though, and I’m totally in my comfort zone.

Probably every one of us have taken at least one personality assessment test.  We’ve been given labels to help us understand our strengths and weaknesses.  I sometimes wonder how Jesus might have done on such a test.  I suspect that he would have been perfectly balanced in all categories.  He had no weaknesses; only strengths.  That being the case, no one gets to ignore a command in scripture on the basis of, “That’s not easy for me.” Personally, I’m not excused from learning how to admonish someone who is out of line.  If Jesus did it, my goal should be to make it a part of my life.

I recall a middle aged gentleman, a CEO of a large religious organization, who said, “You know, my job would be easy if it weren’t for people. If I could just remove the chairs from my office, then people wouldn’t sit down and take up my time.” My husband and I laughed at his comment because we knew he was mostly kidding and just revealing his natural bent.  He didn’t want to deal with the fainthearted and the discouraged.  He was much better at admonishing the unruly.

So how should I go about doing the things that are difficult for me?  Do I just take a deep breath and dive into the deep end of the pool?  That would be a mistake.  What God has commanded, God empowers by His Spirit.  As I humbly ask Him for the grace to obey, He fuels my efforts with supernatural power.

Father, You want me to trust You, not only in the things I think I can do by myself, but in the things for which I feel disqualified.  Show me today just one way I need to be more like Jesus, then help me. Amen