Program Success Christian Reader September 2007 | Page 38
38 The Christian Reader September 2007
Loving In The Red Zone
By Shewanda Riley
GOOD BUT WEAK!
“People will be... lovers of pleasure rather
than lovers of God - having a form of
godliness but denying its power.”
Would you rather have someone who is weak but good or someone
who is good but weak? When this question dropped into my spirit
during prayer time a few weeks ago, I thought to myself: neither one
because they sound the same to me. The question was repeated and I
prayed to God and asked him what exactly did that mean.
I tried to focus real hard on understanding the question but was
stumped. I’d been praying to God about some relationship concerns
and was looking for divine direction and insight. But what kept
coming in response to my prayer was this question: Would you rather
have someone who is weak and acts good or someone who is good but
has weaknesses?
Someone who is weak but looks good is not interested in really making
a change. They are more interested in giving the appearance that they
are lead by their desire to be “good” when in actuality they are more
led by their desire to indulge in their weaknesses.
When someone is good but weak, they have a sincere heart to submit
to God’s will but might find themselves struggling to do so.
They
are honest about their ability to fail sometimes….they don’t wallow in
their failures, however. They try to use those as stepping stones to
spiritual growth.
I’d hoped that God was not giving me that as my answer to the prayer
that I’d prayed earlier….it just didn’t seem like an answer to me. I
started to think about his question and was quite frankly puzzled.
What is the difference between having someone who is weak but good
or good with weaknesses?
Couldn’t I just have “good” period? Did I have to choose one or the
other? What I thought by wanting someone all good meant that I
wanted someone like me….but God showed me that I wasn’t all good.
In fact, despite my best efforts, I still fell short. After I stopped crying
and repenting for my faults, I realized that instead of crying for God to
change someone else, I really needed to start with crying and praying
for God to change ME!
I’d been so consumed about other’s weaknesses hindering their ability
to grow spiritually that I’d been hindering my own. In fact, I was
missing out on a chance to show grace to others. All I could say to this
was “Ouch!” I’d always thought I showed grace and compassion to
others but God was showing me that the difficulty I had in resolving
the situation had everything to do with my inability to sincerely show
grace.
Being able to show grace meant that I could no longer be satisfied by
superficial “Christian” behavior but had to exercise grace by looking
deeper for the “Christian” heart and continue to make my own heart
more Christlike.