Weakness

Weakness - A personal defect or failing. 1. A special fondness or inclination: has a weakness for fast cars. 2. Something of which one is excessively fond or desirous: Ice cream is his weakness. "Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." Matthew 26:41. In our post enlightenment era, we have exchanged reason and good intentions with action. The thought that as long as I accept Christ intellectually that I will be fine, is a colossal temptation of our time. The fact of the mater is that we are all weak, but pride covers our real weakness. We glide over our weakness and point to only our strengths. Our will tell us we are fine and ok, but in reality we are becoming more attached to the flesh and weakness, and lack growth. The more we are attached the more we are in want, and the weaknesses burn with lusts until satisfied. If we continue to live in weakness then we will never be able to become like God. We will be exactly like the Apostles in the garden of Gethsemane, asleep. The flesh is weak, but it can be converted into an ally, through discipline. Here is the commentary on this section from “the Orthodox Study Bible”: “Watch and pray is key to Christian spirituality and our struggle against temptations. Hereby Jesus’ soul is strengthened and He faces death courageously. For, while the divine will of the Father and the Son is one, the Lord becomes obedient to the Father in his humanity. In contrast to Jesus’ vigilance, His disciples sleep. Since body and soul are united, the spirit is paralyzed by a lethargic body. A willing spirit, recognizing the weakness of the flesh, knows it needs God’s presence and power. True faith is nourished by ardent, vigilant prayer.” The four obvious ways to cure our weakness is vigilance, obedience, prayer, and faith. Vigilance is needed to see the weakness and to recognize that we need God’s Grace to be victorious. Obedience is needed because seeing and knowing we need God’s Grace is different from actually participating in it, which is what we must do. We are obedient by praying because prayer links our weakness to God’s strength. We have faith that God will be able to deliver us "Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men". 1 Corinthians 1:25. Finally our weakness should expose our need for God. It should lead us even deeper into true repentance and humility. For who can be prideful if they are weak, and who can gloat if they are repenting. May the Lord help me and have mercy on me for my weakness! My dear brothers and sisters in Christ let us all find our weaknesses in life and have God transform them into strengths and live in Him.