Romans 15:1
We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.
It’s just human nature to help people up when you see them fall down but as time goes by, it seems we get greater satisfaction seeing people fall than we do seeing them get back up. Think about all of the TV shows dedicated to seeing people fall on their faces, fall off skate boards, have biking accidents, all while we sit back, grimace and grin. We have created a culture that gets enjoyment from seeing people fail and fall.
As believers, it should be our desire to see people get back up instead of falling down. All our efforts should go into building people up and not tearing them down. There is no way in the world as a Disciple of Christ that anybody should fall around you and you not reach down to pick them up. In fact, the only time you should be looking down on somebody is when you are reaching down to help them back on their feet.
The writer of Romans tells us that we should do three things to help in the failings of others:
Dear God,
Help me to be the kind of person that stops to help people back up instead of kcking them while they are down.
In Jesus Name,
Amen
We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.
It’s just human nature to help people up when you see them fall down but as time goes by, it seems we get greater satisfaction seeing people fall than we do seeing them get back up. Think about all of the TV shows dedicated to seeing people fall on their faces, fall off skate boards, have biking accidents, all while we sit back, grimace and grin. We have created a culture that gets enjoyment from seeing people fail and fall.
As believers, it should be our desire to see people get back up instead of falling down. All our efforts should go into building people up and not tearing them down. There is no way in the world as a Disciple of Christ that anybody should fall around you and you not reach down to pick them up. In fact, the only time you should be looking down on somebody is when you are reaching down to help them back on their feet.
The writer of Romans tells us that we should do three things to help in the failings of others:
- We who are strong. We have to make sure we are strong ourselves so that we are in a position to help when people need our assistance. We need to keep up our spiritual disciplines of prayer, reading scripture, fasting and serving to make sure we are strong in the Lord.
- We ought to bear with the failings of the weak. Teammates don’t leave team members on the floor. Soldiers don’t leave wounded comrades on the battlefield. Church members don’t abandon struggling church members bleeding in the pews. Sometimes, “bearing” up for the failings for the weak means that we have to take some hits for our “failing” friends while they are being restored. We should never kick anybody while they are down.
- Don’t please yourself. Self preservation has become the rule of the day. We look out for number one, which turns out to be us. Jesus said the greatest commandment in the bible is “to love our neighbors as we love ourselves.” Two men were in the woods when they came upon a huge grizzly bear. One man bends down to tie his shoe. His friend said, “You can’t out run a bear, why are you tying your shoe?” The other man said, “I don’t have to outrun the bear, I just have to out run you!” We have to learn how to survive together and in some cases, to die together.
Dear God,
Help me to be the kind of person that stops to help people back up instead of kcking them while they are down.
In Jesus Name,
Amen
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