WHAT IS A “WEAK” CHRISTIAN?
by Ray Mossholder
Weak Christians are bringing Christianity under full attack in America or in any other nation in which they live.
What is a “weak” Christian? A weak Christian is someone who remembers a moment in their life when they were “saved” but usually can’t tell you how their life has become greater since Christ came into it. The way they talk and the things they do makes those who don’t know Christ believe Christians are hypocrites. They are often a huge stumblingblock to the lost, new Christians, and those who are also weak.
A weak Christian may talk about prayer, but seldom prays. If they are baptized in the Holy Spirit and received their prayer language, they rarely or never pray in tongues. At most, their prayer life consists of a kind of shopping list that they run through daily, seeing little or no results from it.
A weak Christian would insist that the Bible is the Word of God, but their Bible stays on the shelf gathering dust because they don’t read it or study it, or do what they learn from it. On the other hand, a weak Christian may read their Bible, but they use what they believe they learn there to make everyone else’s life miserable by judging them, preaching at them and condemning them.
A weak Christian might go on a missionary trip for the fun and excitement of it, telling some of their friends they are going. But they have never gone next door or down their own block to lead their neighbors to Christ. Sharing Jesus is not part of their portfolio.
A weak Christian may or may not go to church. If they do, their favorite part of it is singing in the choir, teaching a Sunday School class, or going out to lunch afterwards with some of their church friends. They honestly can’t remember anything new learned from the pastors message once they leave the building.
A weak Christian’s conversation is controlled by habit, not by the Lord. They shoot from the hip, thinking that whatever they say is what they should say, whether or not it is healing, helpful, or Heavenly. They murmur and gossip, thinking they have every right to do so. Christ is not in control of their life. They find fault with others as if they were dogs after fleas.
Multitudes of weak Christians live locked in self-hatred and bitterness. Their light isn’t hidden under a bushel, but totally snuffed out because they avoid nearly every other human as they’d avoid a plague. Any people they do get around are people they believe they can control or people who control them.
Both the weak Christian who is loud-mouthed and the weak Christian who avoids people find the love of God seemingly missing in their lives. That’s because God’s love is continually sensed only by those Christians who are quick forgivers. They know that true forgiveness requires honestly and lovingly turning every offender over to God for Him to deal with.
A weak Christian lays up their treasures on Earth. They never start with the foundation that all of their money and possessions belong to God and that they are simply His stewards. In their mind all of their money is their own to spend however they wish. They believe God doesn’t really provide for them anyway, but God helps those who help themselves.
In a crisis, a weak Christian might yell out for God, but fear dominates them and unless Christ brings them instant release they will look to anyone else except Christ to solve their problem. If no one can help them they will blame God for bringing the problem to them. They don’t spend time with God in prayer and listen to Him when He tells them what to do. Most weak Christians don’t believe God would talk with them anyway. And they don’t rebuke the devil because they don’t believe in him and the demonic world.
A weak Christian lives as though Christ was billions of miles away from them and generally unavailable through prayer. They believe that if they pray they will almost always get Christ’s Voicemail. They mentally relegate Him to the First Century and to an unreachable Heaven. They reject the supernatural works of Christ for today, usually because their weak pastor has taught them to do that. They believe that healing and all the other gifts of the Spirit were only for the people of the First Century. They don’t believe Christ is “the same today” (Hebrews 10:38) than He was when He was on Earth. They believe in the miracles of the New Testament like the Pharisees believed the miracles of the Old Testament, but not that Jesus Christ could do any miracles for them today.
Is such a person really saved and will they go to Heaven? Yes, if they at some specific point in their life have sincerely asked Christ to come into their life and be their Savior (Romans 10:8-9.) In fact, the New Testament says never to judge weak Christians but do what you and other Christians can do to help strengthen them. Still the tragedy of being a weak Christian is that it is absolutely certain they are missing out on a large part of the “abundant life” (John 10:10) here on Earth that Christ came, lived, died and rose to bring them.
What can a Christian do once they recognize they are weak?:
“Therefore draw near with confidence to the throne of grace so that you can find mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:16.)
Hang out with Christ who hung for you.
WHAT IS A “WEAK” CHRISTIAN?