The Bible testifies that Moses was the most humble man upon the face of the earth in his day (Nu 12:3). What a great commendation! However, this same Moses was struggling with quite a lot of moral weaknesses in his life. At least, one of these moral weaknesses is very obvious to Bible readers; that is ‘anger-weakness’. He killed an Egyptian (Exodus 2:11-15) and he also disobeyed God by striking the rock twice instead of speaking to the rock for water (Numbers 20:1-13); for the most part, these were actions induced by anger. Moses’ anger-induced disobedience offended God so much that, he had to face the consequence of not entering the Promised Land. Largely, we would say Moses’ anger-weakness posed a challenge to his mission and leadership as a man of God. Moses had his weaknesses, but, on the whole, he was a great leader and prophet.
Weakness refers to that aspect of our character or nature where we easily fall, where we easily give in to sin, or where we easily compromise to sin. Weakness or flaw is common to all flesh, man or woman, saved or unsaved, Christians or unbelievers, rich or poor, young or old, clergy or laity, etc. David was a man just like us; on more than one occasion, he had the opportunity to kill his arch-enemy, Saul, and become king, but he spared his life. This same David happened to see a woman, Bathsheba, bathing on the roof of her house; when he saw her, he could not control himself. It ended that he committed adultery with her. In these events, we see two sides of David; at one point, he shows strength for forgiveness and he is not vindictive. At another point, he showed weakness for women. Christians are just like David; they have strengths and weaknesses.
Types of weaknesses
- Academic weaknesses: These are weaknesses related to academic work.
- Professional weaknesses: These are weaknesses related to the job you do. E.g. poor self-organization, etc.
- Moral weaknesses: From a Christian perspective, it refers to acting against Christian beliefs to do something you should not have done.
Both Christians and unbelievers have weaknesses related to academics, profession, and morality. Our study is going to focus on moral weaknesses.
Examples of moral weaknesses
Christians and unbelievers alike have moral weaknesses. These are a few of the moral weaknesses exhibited by Christians:
- Some Christians are vindictive. This moral weakness makes them feel the urge to practice ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth (Ex 21:24; Mt 5:38)’; that is to say, they feel the urge to do wrong to those who do wrong to them.
- Some Christians are unforgiving. This moral weakness makes them harbor bitterness and anger in their hearts against others who have done them a misdeed. Normally, they would not be on talking terms with such offenders. (Matthew 6:15)
- Some Christians easily tell lies to cover up their shame, to avoid punishment, or to avoid criticism. (Proverbs 12:22)
- Some Christians easily get offended. They often get offended about trivial matters. (Proverbs 10:12; Matthew 18:15-17)
- Some Christians are too envious. This weakness makes them often resort to envying the progress or prosperity of others, fellow Christians and unbelievers alike. (Psalm 37:1-2; Proverbs 24:1-2; Proverbs 3:31; Proverbs 23:17; Proverbs 24:19-20)
- Some Christians are selfish and self-centered. (James 3:16; 1 Corinthians 10:24; Philippians 2:3; 1 Corinthians 13:4-5)
- Some Christians easily get angry and react rudely towards others. That is the weakness of short temper. (Proverbs 14:17; Proverbs 19:11)
- Some Christians are shy to preach about Jesus, portray Christian virtues, etc. Shyness is the weakness of many professing Christians in the church today. ( Romans 1:16-17; 2 Timothy 1:8; Luke 9:26 )
- Some Christians sit back and look on; for fear of criticism or disapproval of others, they do not initiate anything in the church, at home, or at workplaces to help solve problems. This is the weakness of passiveness.
- Some Christians are fond of giving people orders. This weakness of being bossy makes them irritate others. (Matthew 20:25-27; 1 Peter 5:2-3)
- Sometimes, during arguments or disagreements, some Christians react hastily even before they think of the implications of their reaction. That is an exhibition of the weakness of impatience.
- Laziness in one’s Christian life goes to the extent of affecting his service to God and his attitude to work.
- Some Christians are intolerant. (Ephesians 4:2)
- Some Christians easily succumb to pride. They easily become proud because of their position, social status, financial position, educational background, etc.
- Greed – greed for money. This is the weakness that made Judas Iscariot fall away and was reckoned no more as a disciple of Jesus.
What should we do about our weaknesses?
Remember that weakness in our character is among a couple of other things such as false doctrines, temptation, etc. which lead many Christians to sin against God or commit apostasy. Weakness is a sin-causing factor in a Christian’s life. Jesus taught us a way to deal with all those factors that cause us to sin. He said,
If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. (Matthew 5:29)
And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. (Matthew 5:30)
What Jesus wants us to do about sin-causing factors is too clear; He says, “plug it out or cut it off and cast it from you’. In other words, remove them from your life. Jesus is, therefore, teaching us the doctrine of purging ourselves of all sin-causing factors in our lives, which includes our moral weaknesses. Therefore, one should identify his weaknesses and purge himself of them.
Jesus’ teachings were more than just directing us to what to do about our moral weaknesses; they further emphasized the necessity of purging ourselves of our moral weaknesses when He added, “.. for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell”. Sin-causing factors, which include moral weakness, according to Jesus’ teachings, are capable of estranging a Christian from God and dragging him to hell; hence the need to make it a personal priority to part with them, casting them away, for the sake of your salvation.
Conclusion
Moral weaknesses would pose a major challenge to our Christian life. Weaknesses come in many forms – greed for money, envy, laziness, short temper, etc. – there are billions of them. You should not entertain these weaknesses in your life, for they lead one into sin; neither should you pretend as though you do not have any weakness – it is sheer self-deception. You should rather identify and overcome your weaknesses.