Read: Psalm 139
When I was in high school I took a Level 1 typing course to fulfill my electives requirement. I had no interest in the subject but thought I might do better in it than in Pottery 101. Anyway, to my surprise I enjoyed the course and walked away as one of the top students in the class. Although I developed a rather impressive typing speed, I had one weakness - I was slow at typing numbers. For some reason, I disliked typing them and therefore did not apply myself to become proficient in that. So, from the point of learning how to type numbers until the end of the class, I fudged my way through, masking the incompetence in that one area by excelling in all other areas.
As an adult, the ability to type has been an asset to my life. It has helped me through college term papers, brought extra income into our home, and blessed the lives of others through volunteer work. Throughout this time, I relied on the same technique to get through my weak area. Recently, I was a volunteer at our church for a women's conference. I worked in the registration department, typing in basic information about each registrant. We were expecting about 500 ladies to attend, so typing speed and accuracy were of vital importance for the job. As I processed the registration forms, my high school days came back to "haunt" me. Each form included the person's address and phone number. Having to type so many numbers slowed down my progress considerably. This time my little "technique" was ineffective since the majority of the typing required was numerical. I chuckled to myself as I remembered how I thought I had "gotten over" in my typing class!
Many times in our Christian walk, we try to "get over." There are areas in our life in which we are weak. Rather than address these issues, we hide our weakness through a number of clever "techniques." We may try to excel in another area, hoping to draw attention to that and away from our weakness. We may draw attention to the weak places in others in an attempt to divert attention from ourselves. Or we may try to down play our weakness by comparing ourselves to someone we feel is worse off. All of these gimmicks may give us momentary relief, but at some point the Lord will give us a task that will expose our shortcomings.
If we expect to become mature saints, we must make it a practice to be honest with God, ourselves, and each other. We are not going to experience change in our lives until we can admit to ourselves that we are in need of it. Then we must be willing to do what the Lord directs in His Word to help us grow. I have counseled many people that would go around and around an issue but never say, "I have a problem." These individuals walked away from our time together in the same situation that they were in when we first started talking. They had learned to rely on their technique so well that they were deceiving themselves.
Walking in that kind of deception shortchanges our life and the lives of those around us. If we appear to be problem free, we disqualify ourselves from being used in the lives of others. No one is willing to share his/her problems with someone who has had no problems. And thinking that we have no weak areas puts us in danger of spiritual arrogance and pride. I never let on to anyone that I was struggling with typing numbers. Neither was I willing to put in the time that was necessary to become proficient with them. Consequently, to this day, whenever I have to type numbers I must slow down and look at the keyboard.
God wants to transform our lives from glory to glory. His desire is that we experience the maximum potential that has been created in us. Let us cooperate by giving our weak areas to Him and walking the path necessary for change.
Prayer
Father, in the name of Jesus, I present my life to you. Reveal every area within me in need of change, and grant me the willingness to change. Amen.
