TURN WEAKNESS INTO STRENGTH
Often, we find ourselves making the same mistakes over again. We may have repented of them severally. We feel sad and frustrated, ashamed, and guilty. We feel dismay and helpless. The fears from these weaknesses and failures grip us. We face the agony of reality and truth, and the pain of new beginning. Yet life moves on and these become common place. The scripture says “the righteous falls seven times and rises up seven times.’ Those considered as failures are those who fall and cannot rise again. Inside every weakness lies some measure of potential growth. Apostle Paul confessed the things he desires to do, he doesn’t do them but those he hates he find himself doing them. We seem to hate these behaviors of imperfection. We keep going back and forth, dwindling from weakness to strength and vice versa. This conflict emanate from our two human natures-physical and Spiritual. They war against each other.
But the good news is that God our Creator makes perfect strength in our weaknesses. God is not looking for self righteousness and human perfection, but those who accept their weaknesses and seek help. Real men lay their weaknesses at the feet of Jesus and cry for help. Foolish men try to fix them themselves. They are concerned with what people would say and care little or nothing about what God commands. They feel ashamed of their mistakes and sometimes are too stiff-necked to repent. Their shame or guilt only leads to remorse because they were caught in the act not because of the import of their wrong doings. The fears of rejection or abandonment grip them, fears of potential harm dissolute them and they can not even discuss such with their closet friends or relations. Fears of failures pursue them into hiding and covering their faces. Not withstanding, God loves us unconditionally; He’s present in all our situations.
Whitney Hopler, crosswalk.com contributing writer opined that “by recognizing and confronting our weakness, we can actually use them to build strengths. He suggested ways we could turn our weakness into strengths: [I] Try to determine the source of all fears and consider whether they really worth holding. We could redirect our thoughts and spend our energy on something more productive. [ii] Develop a relationship with caring people and the fears of potential harm will disappear. [iii] Avoid conflicts by being bold enough to walk out of them. This attitude keeps us away from troubles and gives us inward abilities and satisfaction. Approach issues productively and work things out through conflict resolution. [iv] Most insecurity emanate from the need to be right. We should place a higher value on seeking the truth than the need to be right. It’s easy to prove right on a wrong cause and motive. Ask God for patience and perseverance [v] Learn to listen to others and respect their views.[vi] Even though we call on God to help us, we often have self doubt. We should learn to trust God and rely on His unlimited power and mercies.[vii] We should accept that people behave differently because we have different dispositions. Our standards and expectation may be unrealistic to others; we should prefer mutually agreeable solutions than impose self will. We should respect people’s right to disagree with us and hold opinions that differ from ours, whether there are objective or subjective.
Every one makes mistakes; we should accept our mistakes and that of others. Separate the past from the present. We cannot buy back your past, but can change our future by what we do today. Christ had already paid for our past and has power to heal and lead us to overcome strange and difficult situations. Seek to identify, understand and deal with each weakness individually. Ask God’s intervention and graces. Finally, we should learn to confront whatever weakness we have and present them to God who is able to do exceedingly beyond what we think and ask. If we confess our sin, God is faithful and just to forgive and restore us. Dwell no longer on our past weaknesses for there have become part of our history but overcome them with inward strength. God had given us the Spirit of love and sound mind. This Spirit is given to every believer for profit. We cannot continue to dwell in weakness so that grace may abound. Just as we cherish our strengths, we should honestly accept our weaknesses. We are incomplete without them. The mere fact that we are shame of them is evidence of accepting something wrong with us and need corrections. The next step is to commit them to God and work them out one after another. With God all things are possible and He does not allow us to be tempted beyond that which we could handle. He’s unchangeable changer – does not change but change people, situation and even impossibilities. Jesus admonished Peter, Satan is about to sip you but I will pray and strengthen you. Jesus is present in all our trails to help us out. Just open your heart and give Him a chance.
Elder Ogbonnaya can be reached at email: gkapin53@yahoo.com
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