I was recently asked the question, “What are you learning right now?”
It’s a great question to ask and an even better one to challenge yourself to answer. I think a desire to be a life-long learner is a critical part of success in the Christian life. I think it was Rick Warren who expressed it this way:
“Leaders are learners. If you stop learning you also stop leading.”
So what are you learning right now?
Well, one of the answers I shared was that I am learning to ask for help. For many reasons, that has always been a struggle for me. I know one source of that is my own pride.
Pride’s lie is that we do not need one another. We can handle everything ourselves. The cancerous sin of pride can even convince us that we do not need God.
Humility is what increases our willingness to admit our need and ask for help.
The irony for many of us is that we struggle to do the same things we would immediately advise others to do. I am often asking others this question:
Are there people in your life right now who are just waiting for you to ask for help?
It’s a question I should ask myself more often.
Perhaps you need to answer that question as well. It’s important to remember that it is the humble that asks for help.
But there is something else about this openness towards others that is so critical to our life in Christ. In II Corinthians 12:9, Paul says,
“I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”
He then adds in the following verse.
“For when I am weak, then I am strong.”
At first glance, it would be reasonable for us to ask, “How can they be Paul?” It seems to defy logic and it really is a ridiculous statement if you do not believe that the power of God is at work in your life.
That conviction makes all the difference.
Here’s the rest of my own learning. Let me warn you that if you share my struggle, this is going to sting a bit.
When I refuse to embrace weakness and ask for help, it is not only a rejection of the belief that the power of God is at work in my life, it is also a rejection of the conviction that the power of God is at work in the lives of others as well.
It’s OK to say ouch. I feel it too. That is hard for me to hear, but I know it’s true.
So let me leave you with a more positive way of thinking about this.
When we embrace weakness, sharing our needs with others and ask for help, we are increasing the access of God’s power to work in our life. It’s like adding three extra lanes to a congested highway. God’s power at work in your life suddenly is able to lock arms with God’s power in the work of another’s life.
Up until now, it might be the step you have simply been unwilling to take. At the same time, it just might be the step that changes everything.
The humble ask for help which is why weakness is often what opens the door to unexpected strength.
Is it time for you to ask for help?
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