| We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves. |
| —Romans 15:1 |
Once we begin to follow the Lord Jesus Christ, we will find ourselves proceeding along a pathway that He lays out before us. That pathway will take us through a process of ever-increasing Christian Spiritual Formation, where we will become more and more like Jesus. Bible scholars call this process “sanctification.” It literally means: “to become holy.” Because Jesus, the Son of God, is holy, He wants us to be like Him. So, by His grace and by the enabling of the Holy Spirit, we are in the process of becoming holy, and thus, more like He is.
This includes the way we treat other people. Not every person has the same gifts, abilities, talents, and determination we do. Some people struggle with things that come quite easy to us. Some people need help, just to get through the day. We may be quite self-sufficient. But others may need lots more help than we ever do. In our process of becoming more and more like Jesus, we must determine to support those who are weaker than we are. That’s the thrust of these words from the Apostle Paul, as found in Romans 15:1:
We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of the weak and not to please ourselves.
Let’s determine this day to put others first, to put them ahead of ourselves. Let’s determine to support the weak and help those in need. Why should we do that? Because that’s exactly what Jesus would do.
Based on a blog originally posted on Tuesday, November 20, 2018
