February 13
“We then who are strong ought to bear with the scruples of the weak, and not to please ourselves,” Romans 15:1.
The apostle Paul is addressing Christians and telling them how to deal with other Christians who are weak in the faith and who easily yield to the many temptations that confront them. It is a call to be spiritually wide awake for the sake of others. We should avoid thinking only about what will please ourselves.
When people yield to temptation and sin, who is to blame? We might be tempted to say, “It’s their own fault,” or, “They are getting what they deserve!” At that point, we might be showing that our own faith is bordering on being weak.
Often people blame others when they sin. How many people have said that somebody else drove them to drink? They will tell others, “If you would not have done this or that, I would not be in the mess I am today.”
When we sin, indeed it is our old sinful nature that is moving us to go contrary to God’s Commandments. As Christians, we find ourselves in a constant battle between our sinful nature and the new man or the Christian in us. This is a battle that will continue as long as we live on this earth.
We remember what the apostle Paul said: “We know that the Law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin. For what I am doing, I do not understand. For what I will to do, that I do not practice; but what I hate, that I do. If, then, I do what I will not to do, I agree with the Law that it is good. But now, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me. For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells; for to will is present with me, but how to perform what is good I do not find. For the good that I will to do, I do not do; but the evil I will not to do, that I practice. Now if I do what I will not to do, it is no longer I who do it, but sin that dwells in me . . . O wretched man that I am! Who will deliver me from this body of death? I thank God – through Jesus Christ our Lord!” Romans 7:14-20, 24-25.
Yes, my dear friend, thank God that He has done what we could never do. He prepared for us a plan of salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord. Our heavenly Father in His grace and mercy sent His only begotten Son to fulfill the Commandments in our place. Then the Lord Jesus took all our sins upon Himself and paid the supreme sacrifice on the cross at Calvary to wash all our sins away. Look to Calvary and trust and believe in the Lord Jesus as God’s Son and your Savior, and then out of love for Him who first loved us, you receive the power to say, “No!” to the temptation to sin.
We who are strong in the faith are called upon to direct the vision of others who are weak to Calvary’s cross and to the open, empty tomb. Tell others that we have a living Savior who is near at hand to help us to resist sin and temptation. Yes, all of us need to pray for a firmer faith:
“Increase my faith, dear Savior,
For Satan seeks by night and day
To rob me of this treasure
And take my hope of bliss away.
But, Lord, with Thee beside me,
I shall be undismayed;
And led by Thy good Spirit,
I shall be unafraid.
Abide with me, O Savior,
A firmer faith bestow;
Then I shall bid defiance
To ev’ry evil foe.” Amen.
God grant you a day to be of help to others in the strengthening of their faith.