How to Stop Wasting Time Fixing Weaknesses

God gives gift(s) to all believers.

Among other things gifts are enabling.

Live in your enabling. Stop wasting time improving your weaknesses. (Notice I said weaknesses not sins)

One goal of gifts in the Church is your uniqueness compensates for and rounds out the weaknesses or inadequacies of others. Don’t shoot to be well-rounded, that’s average. Average is next to mediocre.

Shoot for unique. Live in and leverage your God given abilities. Celebrate your strengths rather than fix your weaknesses. When you do, you honor your maker and you’re more effective. It’s not arrogant.

It’s arrogant to think you can function at your best without the strengths of those around you. It’s humble to think that God has a place in the body that only you can fill.

God made you for a purpose. He gifted you to fulfill that purpose. Live in your gifting, your ability, your strength.

The concept of body-life suggests you aren’t good at everything. Spend time being great at one thing. Stop working to be good at many things.

Push back 1:

Doesn’t the Bible say, “When I am weak, then I am strong.” Shouldn’t we live in our weaknesses?

You’re mistaken if you think that means you should spend your time emphasizing what you can’t do. Additionally, weakness passages aren’t an encouragement to waste time fixing your weaknesses.

If you examine the “weakness” passages, you’ll see they are about weaknesses that come to us from suffering and adversity. It’s silly to think we should try to make ourselves weak. Make yourself dependent yes, but weak, no.

Weakness passages are not an encouragement to live apart from your gifting.

Push back 2:

Won’t you become arrogant if you live in your enabling? You won’t if you are thankful to God for how He made you. Gratitude defeats arrogance.

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I’m just fleshing these ideas out. I’m interested in your thoughts, pro or con. At this point, I believe we are most useful when we live in our giftedness (strength/ability).

The concept of strengthen strengths while not wasting time fixing weaknesses isn’t perfect. I think it’s a central concept. Perhaps you can think of exceptions or applications.

Get Your Head Out of the Clouds and Get Real

“WWJD” is dumb. For those smart enough not to know what “WWJD” means it means, “What would Jesus do.”

Thinking you know what Jesus would do sounds great but if you think you know, you’re dangerous. Stay away from me. You don’t know what Jesus would do.

I suppose you know that Jesus would redeem mankind. At best you can apply that principle. But, you won’t be redoing the redemption of mankind. Once and done.

You can know:

1. You can know what Jesus did. Frankly, what He did was often confusing to His followers.
2. You can know the principles Jesus taught.

What you can do:

You can do your best to apply the principles Jesus taught. Bring them to bear in your life in this culture. It’s challenging and messy.

“WWYD” (What Would You Do) is better than “WWJD.”  WWYD requires real gutsy faith. It means you give traction to the eternal principles Jesus lived and taught. Jesus isn’t here in the same way he was 2,000 years ago, but you are. Let’s get real. Let’s get dirty. WWYD?

Believe in yourself?

How do believers embrace the idea they should believe in themselves when the Bible teaches us to believe in Jesus.

First self-belief isn’t necessarily antagonistic or antithetical to belief in Jesus. For example, you must believe in your ability to hear and comprehend language in order to believe in the gospel.

You matter because you have a maker.

Second, believing God made you for a purpose instills believers with “dependent self-belief.” You can believe you are here for a reason. You can believe that God instills you with the fundamental resources to accomplish His purpose. You can believe that within this creation you matter because you have a maker.

Lastly, self-belief that drives an arrogant wedge between creator and created is where people go wrong.

My faith enables and informs self-belief, self-confidence, self-identity. Not arrogant independence but faith-filled humility.

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Do you have self-confidence?

What about the idea that, “Without me you can do nothing?

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Things that form prayers

Creator

Believers pray to their creator. The “creatorship” of God forms believer prayers.

Creators determine the creation’s purpose, form, and function.

1. Pray that you will know God’s general and specific purpose for your life.
2. Pray that you will know God’s purpose for the community.
3. Pray that you will know and execute your part in fulfilling God’s purposes.

Prayer prayers that align with God’s purposes.

1. What is God’s purpose for husbands?
2. What is God’s purpose for wives?
3. What is God’s purpose for the Church?
4. What is God’s purpose for family, work, and relationships?

Sadly, many prayers have nothing to do with the Creator’s purposes.

When you comprehend the Creator’s purposes you’ll better know how to pray.

Father

Believers pray to their Father. Believer prayers can be formed by an understanding of our Father.

Fathers have hopes and dreams for their children.

1. Pray you’ll fulfill God’s hopes and dreams for you.
2. Pray for the guidance and wisdom that father’s give.
3. Pray for the protection that father’s provide.

Understand the orientation of older fathers and grandfathers. Relationships gain importance as people gain in age. Relationships always matter but they matter more to the not-so-young. Old fathers treasure joyful, respectful relationships. They want the kids happy, self-sustaining, and near-by.

Your heavenly Father is relational. He pursues mankind for relationship. Not because He’s needy; because it’s His nature.

When you understand the Father’s hopes and dreams you’ll better know how to pray.

Afraid of grace

Grace that requires obedience is not grace. It’s law.

Grace plus promising to stop sinning is not grace. It’s law. It’s also futile.

By grace alone, through faith alone, in Jesus alone

It’s a little awkward to let grace stand alone. It’s more than a little awkward to acknowledge our only contribution is faith. However, the need to help grace elevates us and diminishes grace. It suggests we have abilities we don’t have. It’s subtle arrogance. Do you remember the first arrogant one was the Devil. Could it be that we are like the devil when we try to help grace?

Trust grace, don’t help it.

Grace terrifies moralists, religionists, legalists and weak believers. Your freedom may terrify you.

Fear of grace is doubt. Trust grace.

Guilt, shame, and law won’t take you where you want to go. Freedom will.

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Why do people find it hard to believe in grace?

Provision before you fail

God already knows your future failures and He’s provided for them. In addition, He’s building a life message and ministry for you, based not only on your strength’s but also on your weaknesses.

Luke 22:31–32 (NIV)

³¹“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift you as wheat. ³²But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

Jesus restores and re-commissions Peter before he fails!

In addition, notice that Peter’s future ministry is a strength giving ministry. What did Peter do? He lost strength. Now, by grace, Peter’s future ministry centers on his point of frailty, his loss of strength.

Your frailties and sins don’t block God’s grace to you. He’s already made provision for every sin you’ll ever commit. You’re free. Can you believe that?

Go and love Him in your freedom.

Learning to walk by faith today,

Grace Freak

Dan Rockwell

The 8th Letter

Fasten your spiritual seat belts.

Just the black notes

Best 8 minutes and 54 seconds of the day.

The following note was added 8/31/2010

Sounds good but I’m told the story is not true. This just in from a PhD in Church history:

“The black note thing is historically wrong. Totally. The tune we associate with amazing grace is called New Britain. It was not composed until 8-10 years after Newton died. AG was sung to several different tunes before the current tune. Also the five note scale is not only African but also the basis for bagpipes and many other primitive or basic instruments.”

Angry Jesus

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It had been a long and surprise filled trip down the Jordan valley. And now the crowds were ecstatic at the arrival of the teacher from Galilee who is finally entering Jerusalem. However, Jesus was not caught up in the enthusiasm of chanting crowds. While they were overcome with joy, he sobbed the sob of a mourner. To make matters more perplexing, upon entering the Temple he flew into a fit that made men shrink from his rage.

What happened?

He looked around the holiest place on earth and saw a corrupt religious system taking advantage of people. He saw a system consumed with serving itself rather than the broken. He saw leaders and business people lining their own pockets in the name of religion.

Perhaps the Church today isn’t much different from the hypocrites of Jesus day. Take a moment and consider. Can you think of someone angry at a Church or Christian who has taken advantage of them? Can you think of more than one or two people burned out by self-centered, self-serving religious systems? I can. The land is littered with the rubble of those chewed up and spit out by legalistic, ungraceful “Christians” and “Churches.”

Being like Jesus.

Would you like to be like Jesus? Then weep at the bondage of religious systems that blind people to the freedom of grace. Burn with anger at religious systems focused on reforming lost people rather than sharing the message of redeeming grace. It’s tragic.

If Jesus entered your church would he start knocking over tables and chairs in a rage because you are serving yourself? Are you captured by a system that builds walls rather than bridges to Jesus?

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How do churches and Christians create barriers around Jesus rather than building bridges to him?

No outsiders allowed?

Casually read the life of Jesus and you’ll see Him persistently extending grace to outsiders. He’s an outsider-focused individual, living an outsider-focused life. Even the training of the 12 occurs within an outsider focused context.

On the other hand, a casual review of church programs reveals a decidedly insider slant. Churches typically expend their time, energy, and resources on themselves. Frequently these activities don’t enhance believer integration into the community. Rather, they are segregated or limited to a small, comfortable number of outsiders. In brief, these activities are barriers not channels to extending grace to others.

Note on Integration.

I was taught that good Christians lived separated lives. Separation meant isolation. However, Jesus never lived in isolation, nor should we. Graceful living drives us toward integration. In this case, separation is demonstrated by distinctions like love and compassion not isolation.

What if?

What would happen if churches did fewer insider facing programs and decided to integrate into community programs that already exist? Could Christian fellowship occur in an outsider context? Could spiritual growth take place while participating in a YMCA program?

On the other hand.

Jesus spent time alone with His disciples. Churches should have alone time, where shared values dominate conversations and the freedom of sameness is fully embraced and enjoyed.

Now what?

Since it’s comfortable and natural to build programs for ourselves, I suggest grace-oriented Churches resist the drift inward by intentionally limiting exclusive insider-only activities.

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What’s hindering believers from living outsider focused lives?

How can graceful believers live outsider focused lives?

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