3/3/2023 0 Comments Equally downcast![]() That’s a feature of the body of Christ it’s not a bug. The strong serve the weak the weak are, in that sense, worthy of greater honour than the strong. The wealthy throw parties for the destitute, not for other well-heeled neighbours who can host slumber parties for their kids in return. That means that the strong take on the burdens of the weak, not the burdens of other strong people who can take up their burdens in return. The strong are called to do more than just sit with the sufferers, but sitting with them is part of the job description. It is not all we are to do, but it definitely is something we are to do. They do not exist for themselves, nor do they exist just to hook up with and hang out with all the other strong potential leaders out there. So here’s the thing: the weak aren’t a problem-a drag on all the strong who could get some real ministry done if they didn’t have needy people gumming up the works. They are a net ‘hole’ to the church’s ministry, needing ministry done to them, but not being able to contribute anything back. Many of them even have burdens a bit greater than they can carry. There’s nothing ‘left over’ to serve others with. Their burdens are more or less equal to their capacity. Some people are coping with all their responsibilities, and still have room left over to take on more: they volunteer for things, they lead Bible studies, they look for people to help, they lead churches and the like. Some people have ‘got it together’ at this point in time, and others are ‘doing it tough’. Do: carry others’ burdensįirstly, the church is made up of ‘strong’ people and ‘weak’ people-not in faith, maturity, desire to serve or anything of that nature. The ‘do’ part is more encouraging, and comes in two parts. Sometimes Mohammed really does have to go to the mountain. Despite what Disney wants you to believe, you can’t always do it if you just believe you can. But there comes a point where willpower-even faith-inspired willpower-can’t move the mountain. Or, if it’s got a stronger grip on them than that, they can soldier on within it by force of will-grit their teeth and bear it. Up to a point, people can simply shake themselves out of a funk or mood just by force of will. So they never turn outward to God they get stuck at the ‘look for faith inside myself to stir up’ part. But when a person is weak, there are no resources there to call on. It is a semi-Pelagian (or Arminian) way of going about things, but God’s grace is sufficient to cover it. Usually that’s not fatal a person looks in, realizes they can stir up their faith and then looks out to God’s gracious glory shining in the face of his Son. In a case like this (and this isn’t true for all situations), exhortations do nothing more than throw people back on themselves and their own resources. strengthen their faith) obscures the very thing that could strengthen their faith. The very act of trying to get them to do what is good for them (i.e. ![]() So your exhortation adds to the litany of failures that is usually part of the ‘self-talk’ of someone who is overcome by anxiety or depression.Įxhortations hide the solution. The person can’t do it, but already think they should. ![]() All that the person has is currently being used just to keep breathing.Įxhortations make the problem worse. What looks to you like defeatism is, in fact, simply weakness. There’s nothing in the tank, there’s no willpower to exert, there’s no courage to screw up so that they can just ‘get over it’. When someone is really downcast, exhortations are a waste of time. You have given him one more thing-and it’s a critical thing at that-to whip himself with as he judges himself to not be trusting God. You have essentially made brick from that straw and hurled it onto the load. He is barely standing up under the weight of just being himself.īut add an exhortation to do something to that load-especially one like “trust God”-and you have far more than a single straw to break the camel’s back. He is overwhelmed with burdens that seem silly to anyone not him, but to him, they are the fixed compass of his universe. The problem? His world is little more than darkness without any reasonable possibility of improvement. They can’t avoid exhorting him to stir up his faith, however “softly, softly” they venture it. And in their care, they inevitably call on him to trust God, to look to God, to place himself in God’s hands or the like. The thing that surprised me when talking to him recently is that as he begins the process of recovering from a depressive/anxiety breakdown, he has had to avoid his Christian friends and family. That, combined with some bad Christian teaching and an inherent susceptibility, has finally created a perfect storm of mental ill health. He’s a believer, who has had a harder-than-average road to walk. I have been talking with a long-term friend of mine in recent weeks.
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