| We who are strong ought to bear with the failings of | | | | The question for us now, the very real and serious |
| the weak and not please ourselves. Each of us should | | | | question, is where are we strong--needing to provide |
| please our neighbor for his good, to build him up. | | | | the right example? In these positions our role is to |
| ~Romans 15:1-2 (NIV). | | | | pray for and exercise wisdom--which is vision, |
| Without getting into the whole story and context | | | | discernment, a dedication to truth involving courage |
| that the above passage was originally set in, we get | | | | to act in faith and most of all, self-restraint, for there |
| a feel very quickly when reading these two | | | | are always opportunities to abuse power that the |
| sentences that they depict a normal, if not | | | | strong have by virtue of their superior position. |
| appropriate, order of life-the way things should be. | | | | Most of all, perhaps, the strong must bear the |
| Yet, how often have the strong led the weak | | | | weak--beyond their own desires--and not put them in |
| astray? The person with most skill, knowledge, | | | | a position of danger, abusing the trust... |
| experience and moral reason fails morally to abide by | | | | The reverse question also applies. |
| these very statutes and the innocent, "relying" party | | | | Where are we weak and therefore need to come |
| falters because of them. This is the principle of the | | | | under the control and dependence of those who're |
| strong letting down the weak. | | | | stronger? Our role here is to simply trust and obey. |
| For a salient example, child neglect or abuse fits the | | | | We're to trust others' vision, discernment and |
| bill. Children don't ask for their "caring" adults to | | | | decision-making. |
| apportion their time and care; they simply rely. They | | | | We're all in positions of varying strength and |
| don't have the option to trust or not. They just have | | | | weakness in our myriad of life roles. It is our job to |
| to. It's the same in any team context where the | | | | appropriately fit ourselves the accordant positions, |
| leaders must lead responsibly. The weaker ones | | | | situationally. |
| necessarily rely on the strong. | | | | This surely is the purpose of appropriate Christian |
| This order of life is necessary for the very survival | | | | discipleship--to determine, situationally, our position |
| of humankind, lest it spin into anarchy. And in every | | | | and response in alignment with God's will for us at |
| civilisation where moral bankruptcy has led to its | | | | that time. |
| demise, the strong have let down the weak. | | | | © 2010 S. J. Wickham. |