 A NEWSLETTER FOR THE MEMBERS OF THE GREENWOOD CHURCH OF CHRIST
BEARING THE WEAKNESSESBY STEVE NIEMEIERIn an interview recently a well known basketball coach made this comment after a tough loss; “We need our good players to overcome the inefficiencies of our weak players.” Many times in our lives we find that we either have to pull extra weight because of the weakness of someone else or we need someone to pull our weight because we are the weak one. Paul addressed such an issue as it pertains to those who are members of the Lord's body in Romans 15:1-2. He goes further in verse 3 of this passage and states that even Christ did not please Himself but bore the reproaches of others. It is hard to imagine just how Jesus felt when He went to Gethsemane to pray on the night that He knew he would be betrayed (Matthew 26:36-43). All of the emotion concerning the events that would be taking place as well as His disciples being left alone had to be weighing heavy on His mind. Yet, we find that He took James, John, and Peter with Him and asked them to watch while He went to pray. Three times He left them to go pray and He would come back to find them asleep---not watching as He had asked them to do. Here they were sleeping on the night that the Son of God was going to be betrayed! Yet He still went to the cross on their behalf. He covered theirs and our weaknesses. In a congregation of the Lord's church it seems that there are those that are strong as well as some that are weak. The strong bear the burdens of the weak in the work. When something needs to be done that requires time and effort the weak disapear and the strong step up to the plate and get the job done. Sometimes the strong get weary and frustrated because the weak never step up to bear any burdens. Many a congregation has faltered because the strong get worn out bearing all the weaknesses of the weak. We pray that the strong of this congregation do grow weary in well doing and that the weak will repent and be strong! |
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