We all love to complain. We hate to hear complaints, but we love to complain.  And usually we love to gripe about people who hold us back because of their weakness.

If you are a leader you are tempted to think about how you could accomplish more if you had better people.  If you’re adventurous you think about how much more exciting life would be if your spouse wasn’t so conservative.  If you like to drink alcohol you’re annoyed at teetotalers.  If you serve your church wholeheartedly its hard not to look down on people who just consume.

And the complaint seems so justified because these relationships really do seem to hold us back.  But Paul does not let us off the hook so easily.

He tells us in Romans 15:1-3: “We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. 2 Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. 3 For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.”

The gospel shows us that Jesus’ goal was not to be all that he could be.  His goal was to bear our weakness.  He had to lay his desires down to build us up.  He, who was strong, became weak, so that we could be strong in his love.

And now we use that strength to serve and to bear, not to trample and offend.  We so easily think that people have worth relative to how much they help us accomplish our life goals.  But God has given you strength to build weak people up, not to stand on them so you can go higher.