Dealing with weaknesses

“Accept him whose faith is weak.” (Rom. 14:2)

“Love covers a multitude of sins." (1 Peter 4:8)

Rather than dividing the Body between the strong and the weak, we often talk about encouraging each other’s strengths and covering each other’s weaknesses.

What does this mean in a practical sense?

I think teaching tends to give more attention to the development of gifts, emphasizing the “building up.”

But what are examples of weak areas in a brother that we can protect, and how so? If we have weak areas in our own lives, how can we ask for help?

Yulia's gift

I had a little friend at camp who captured my heart, about 7 or 8 years ago. She was just this shy little thing that would always beam at me in greeting.

In “Russia-A Love Story,” I posted a photo of us together. That was a day when we were saying goodbye as our group left for the airport, and Yulia gave me a little parting gift. It was her own purse, with my name scrawled on a piece of paper. Inside, a note addressed to me said “Farewell.”  Continue reading/-

Just what was in that purse? An icon (Saint Tatiana), a hair elastic, and a 2004 calendar. I have no idea why this particular assortment was given to me. Were they her dearest possessions? Ones she thought I could use? Or the quickest ones she could find before running to see us off?

We met again at the orphanage in the fall. When you have a reunion with orphans, it’s not what you would expect. Yes, there is some joy and exchanging of hugs, but it isn’t like a happily-ever-after feeling. I was happy that I had the opportunity to see them again, but there is something about the camp atmosphere where you love and yet keep your distance. And here, we didn’t quite know how to be the kind of friends who saw each other regularly.

So some of the kids who were my little shadows at camp grew cold fairly quickly. Yulia would often come up to give me a hug, but I was working with a different group and without the sports and other mixers at camp, it was hard to find a reason to just “hang out.” The kids had school and were kept pretty busy after school. Well, I wouldn’t have minded just hanging out, but you have to be purposeful in relationships with orphans. Just like in any relationship, if you are going to involve someone’s heart, you had better be serious about your intentions.

Within the walls of the orphanage, I go months without seeing certain children. Whenever I would see Yulia, she had gotten taller. Her smile was now more flirtatious than innocent, although I wanted to believe she hadn’t changed.

The last time I saw her, she was standing outside with a group of…well, teenagers. Smoking, dressed like teenagers, conversing like teenagers. Yulia’s hair was dyed black and I wanted to yank her away from the other kids and return her innocence, and her little brown pixie cut.

The One God

Since ancient times no one has heard,

       no ear has perceived,

       no eye has seen any God besides you,

       who acts on behalf of those who wait for him.

-Isaiah 64:4

Fortune telling- is it cultural?

Is your native culture superstitious? Do people rely heavily on fortune-telling? We might associate divination with certain cultures and religions, but I think there is evidence in all cultures to suggest that we all long to know what our future holds…

When I took a quick look at my own culture, I realized that there are quite a few forms of entertainment that have a link to fortune telling, and, directly or indirectly, devil worship.

American culture
-Ouiji boards
-Daily horoscopes and other forms of Astrology
-Chinese fortune cookies
-Tarot reading
-TV shows and other portrayals of psychics...
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-“MASH” and other games to find out about one’s future spouse, etc.
-Chain games which involve uttering certain words; passing on a message to get a certain effect...
-Misuse of prophecy in the Church
-References to bad luck and bad omens
-Personality “tests” and a multitude of other attempts to analyze one’s behavior and chances for certain outcomes in life

Russian Culture
–having not grown up here, I miss a lot of the subtle references. But Astrology and other attempts at determining the future certainly abound.
-A woman in the metro once gave me a “gift” of an Astrology magazine.
-A few women (looking like they were from one of the southern republics) once came up to me asking directions and suddenly started speaking words over me about the future, which actually sounded more like a curse, but I ignored them and walked away without determining what they had said.
-I heard that the period of Yuletide (after Christmas on Jan.7th) are very popular for fortune telling.

Meanwhile, my teacher for Culture class is a very enthusiastic educator and tells about everything as though she is telling a story, with much description and emotion. But unfortunately, she seems just as passionate about paganism as about Christian traditions in Russia.

We had a very odd reading this last week about “evil spirits.” This was an article that she had written herself. She began by stating that the Russian understanding of clean and unclean spirits arose only after the advent of Christianity. With no apparent transition, the text then launched into a description of Russian folk traditions for keeping away evil spirits, including brandishing a cross, the most potent instrument of magic (!).

Okay, so we’re not quite sure where Christianity ends and “folk” traditions begin…not uncommon…
But that isn’t all.

A description of “Russian fortune telling” warned that it was dangerous and sinful, due to the fact that you are entering into contact with an unclean spirit.

The NEXT page gave recommended times and places for practicing divination, including instructions for calling up an evil spirit! I have run into paradoxes in Russian culture before, but it’s been awhile since anyone instructed me in witchcraft! Unless, of course, you count Massachusetts public schools, but that’s a different story…

I have to be fair and say that this isn’t about culture, and it isn’t even really about religion, as far as comparing them with each other. Yes, Christianity has the answer, but it is because only in Christ are we able to feel secure about our future without knowing all the answers. It is nothing to do with rituals.

Tendencies to find out the future can seem a little desperate, or even demonic. Indeed, any spirit that is not from the Lord is from Satan. But I do not think there exists a people group who worries about the future more than others, or on the contrary worries less. It is something we all seek and we can be sure that those around us who do not know Christ are looking for their future by way of other means.

Starting from Creation, we have gone looking for ways to learn more than we need to know at a specific moment in our lives. The Bible warns that this is not God's desire for us.

"Now I say to the rest of you in Thyatira, to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan's so-called deep secrets (I will not impose any other burden on you): Only hold on to what you have until I come." (Rev. 2:24, 25)