Weakness is Not A reason To Fail

in all, i do not forget approximately my first and handiest marathon is the frustration.

after graduating from college, i decided to test off an item on my bucket list. i was gainfully employed without the commitments of a partner or youngsters. it changed into time to run a marathon. i had in no way run in a 1/2-marathon race, however i naively figured that 3 years of strolling excessive faculty pass in my country might one way or the other deliver me for 26.2 miles. i used to be very incorrect.

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without getting bogged down within the forgettable details, i undertrained the lengthy runs and did not prepare my feet and legs for the pounding. so on race day, around mile eighteen, i ran headlong into the dreaded “wall.” i completed, however handiest after limping the final 8 miles of the race with a damaged body and a wounded ego.

“we have to no longer mistake our sin for weakness.”

once I think back at the race, i don’t do not forget the stunning education runs along the beach . i don’t recall the exhilaration of constructing up mile after mile. i don’t even take into account the exhilaration of race day or the ones first eighteen miles of well-paced strolling. i handiest bear in mind the 8 depressing miles of limping to the finish line. i take into account my weak point.

failures and weaknesses

it is straightforward to remember our screw ups. quitting. dropping out. divorced. estranged. fired. bankrupt. incomplete. incarcerated.

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it’s additionally easy to do not forget our ever-present weaknesses. physical frailty. persistent ailments. under-average mind. getting to know disabilities. emotional brokenness. formative years trauma.

at one degree, we can boast in our weaknesses and frailties. we should. we want to comply with inside the course of the apostle paul, who says, “i will boast all the greater gladly of my weaknesses, so that the energy of christ can also rest upon me” (2 corinthians 12:nine). our weaknesses are possibilities for christ’s energy to be revealed thru dependence and faith. with the aid of weaknesses, i mean the painful but morally impartial factors of our humanity, lots of which can be component and parcel of god’s layout for us on this age.

amazingly, we will even boast in frailties that come from being sinned against. god delights to be “near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit” (psalm 34:18). god turns evil into an possibility to enjoy god’s energy, presence, and luxury. we acquire consolation in discomfort so that we'd comfort others with that identical comfort (2 corinthians 1:four). brokenness turns into the training ground for fruitful ministry to others.

even as we can discover ways to include, and even boast in, our weak spot, we need to now not mistake our sin for weakness.
façades and excuses

sin frequently dons the mask of weakness or frailty. it masquerades as being morally neutral when it’s certainly a virus in order to wreck us. we're tempted to reframe our sins — lust, anger, impatience, egocentric ambition, harshness, gluttony, dishonesty, gossip, and so forth — as natural factors of our humanity or effects of suffering trauma. one may be tempted to assume, i’m simply more susceptible than others to act this way because of my past. whilst our past can have an impact on our present questioning and styles, it however does no longer excuse us from failing to salary battle towards our sin.

within the famous phrases of puritan john Owen, “be killing sin, or it'll be killing you.” that fact applies each to the occasional or rarer sins and to those sins we discover particularly (or persistently) attractive. regardless of our past, disposition, or persona, there aren't any excuses for embracing sin.

as an instance, if a younger guy struggles with pornography due to the fact he became exposed to illicit fabric at a young age, that is grievous. he has been sinned against by means of folks who exposed him to it, and he now bears the load of elevated temptation and all the numerous effects inflicted on his developing brain. but this young guy’s sinful dispositions and propensities do not excuse his sin.

“regardless of our past, disposition, or persona, there aren't any excuses for embracing sin.”

while our past reports might also help us to recognize our struggles (anorexia, overeating, anxiety, a performance mindset, irritated outbursts, impatience, and so forth), they absolutely do no longer excuse them. christians are continually — or must be — at the pathway and trajectory of increasing holiness. in reality, a propensity toward a particular type of sin should make us all the more vigilant in opposition to that sin.
fortify your weak knees

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the author of hebrews understood the temptation to become weary or fainthearted inside the conflict against sin. but he didn’t use weariness to excuse his readers’ sin, but as a substitute calls them to upward thrust up in god-enabled zeal to fight. he says, “lift your drooping palms and fortify your susceptible knees” in order that they could “gain the grace of god” (hebrews 12:12, 15). how are they alleged to do that?

the author exhorts his target market to get rid of sin and temptation by looking to jesus christ, “the founder and perfecter of our faith” (hebrews 12:2). that’s a simple but effective approach in opposition to the ensnarement of sin: appearance to jesus. take into account his life, dying, and resurrection for you. don't forget his gift rule and reign at the father’s proper hand. recall how christ suffered and persisted to the factor of dying in obedience to his father’s will. similar to a marathon, the race of the christian life is specifically approximately finishing. it topics now not the way you get there, or how vulnerable you experience alongside the manner; it subjects which you maintain running. inside the christian existence this jogging is combating for pleasure in god (and in opposition to the pleasure-killing effects of sin).

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god additionally gives his gracious work of restorative subject in the life of believers. god disciplines his kids for his or her good so that we'd come to be greater holy (hebrews 12:10). whilst this may instinctively make experience as a parent (who often has to area his youngsters), it’s a great deal greater difficult to simply accept while we’re on the receiving stop.
difficulty and battle

therefore god calls believers to “raise your drooping hands and beef up your weak knees” (hebrews 12:12). he calls them to not disintegrate underneath the burden of exhaustion and discouragement — nor below the weight of corrective subject — but as an alternative to resume the pursuit of holiness. do no longer give up or give in to sin. the problem of this venture does now not diminish however heightens the really worth of the prize. to borrow a famous slogan, no pain, no gain — or growth.

“difficulty and war are proper signs of getting actively engaged inside the fight against sin.”

problem and warfare are true symptoms of getting actively engaged in the fight against sin. within the pursuit of holiness, we need to embody the battle, sweat, and ache (hebrews 12:4). sin and satan seek to rob believers of joy, to render them useless, and to derail their pathway towards eternal joy and glorification. spotting weak spot is not giving in to sin. recognizing weakness is remembering our inability to combat on our very own. knowing we can not combat on my own, we renew our faith in christ, counting on the endless sources he purchased for us.
sinless weak spot

we can be tempted to wallow in our weaknesses, wishing we were more like someone else, however a long way higher to contemplate god’s redeeming energy at work in our weakness, and then to resume our zeal to kill sin. rather than lamenting our inabilities, we hope inside the one in every of inestimable capability, jesus, who took on our weakness in order that we might become sturdy in him.

our older brother embraced all of the limitations of turning into human, he experienced the extensive range of temptation but was with out sin, and he suffered excessive agony and mockery to redeem us. therefore, we've got a sympathetic excessive priest who brings us to the father, and we have a savior who has destroyed the strength of sin so that we might locate growing freedom whilst we eagerly expect being with him forever, purified and new, in heaven.