Came across this line from John Calvin today: "God accommodates himself to our weakness." Not having read much of anything by John Calvin, but having plenty experience in weakness, I'd say that's a pretty happy statement.
The question that flows out of it, I suppose, is this: how accommodating of the weaknesses of others am I typically willing to be? Assuming that becoming like God is a noble pursuit, how do I become more accommodating? And what do I have to sacrifice along the way?
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Great question! I struggle with that, because it really bothers me when I see someone embrace a theological position I do not agree with. I try not to make a big deal of it, but I'm keenly aware of the differences. On the other hand, we are to love even our enemies and pray for those who persecute us, love our neighbor as ourselves, and commanded to love the other members of Christ's body as Christ loved the church.
Where is the line between the practice of this profound love, and committment to convictions?
I have this experience pretty regularly at my church, both in the sense of convictions at odds with each other (in which case I'm in conversation with an opponent) and in another sense, varying levels of biblical literacy (in which case there's a language barrier in our conversation). Case in point: this week at church our primary leadership was away, either on a mission trip or a vacation (depending on the person, not on your perspective), so I listened to a reading from the letter of Paul to the Phoenicians and a reading from the Palmist. How do I accommodate my language to people who are biblically illiterate (and increasingly in a postliterary society, functionally illiterate)so that I bless them rather than frustrate them?
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