Strategy Is Not Bad for Faith and Life

After taking a quiz to find our strengths, one person scored well on strategy as a strength, and she seemed worried and sad about it. She said, "Don't worry, everyone. I'm not scheming against you!" Her view of strategy seemed only that of watching a show like Survivor. The people on the show view most relationships as only valuable in so much as they help the person get ahead, and it's full of strategy—thinking through various possibilities of who to side with to try to win money at the end. Games of strategy don't take into account the other person's success in the game. It's about winning! (But there is fun in doing an activity with a person you like, no matter if you win or loose—as long as the person isn't a poor looser or too much of gloater.)

Strategy is not bad for relationships at all. The definition of strategy is simply a plan or series of steps that are known or predicted to get to a goal or end result. Strategy can be at the root of wisdom if a good heart, which has a love for others and for God, is doing the strategizing.

For instance, you could have a strategy to spend more time with your kids or your spouse. That can take some planning. Possibly aiming to try to think about work less at home, or thinking of an activity that a person likes and scheduling in time to do them, or some type of meditation that helps clear your mind and focus more on what matters more.

Many people have and promote their strategies of reading and praying daily. They wake up super early and use that first hour for that. Or they have a set time at another time, or right before they go to bed.

When a person feels sad about having strengths of strategy, that is a little sad to me that they are missing out on acknowledging and using a good gift. God created our brains to do amazing things sometimes, and being able to think through different scenarios and possibilities and find the best way to proceed is a beautiful gift that we can enjoy using.

Weakness Is Strength in God

When we are weak we are strong according to God.  At first is makes no sense when we read such words in scripture.  But scripture always proves itself right in the end if we dwell on it long enough.

You see when we feel strong we are quite foolish.  We are frail if we know it or not.  The strongest athlete and the richest man in the world are vulnerable and frail.  Often we see "great men" express hubris of their invincibility, but we are frail.  Maybe today we are strong but in the end we all succumb to death.

When we admit our weakness we admit the truth.  When we feel we are strong we are in delusion.  It is God who gives and takes strength.  God who gives and takes success.

We often feel that we can succeed apart from God and it may appear for a time to be so although it is not true ultimately or in the short term.  Admitting weakness is accepting the truth that it is God behind all good things.

When we feel strong we are in delusion.  When we feel weak and turn to God we admit the truth and in that moment we understand reality correctly.  God is the strength behind all things and when we admit the truth we understand reality as it is.

"Servant-Minded" Courage and Strength

In work and in all places in life we desire to be strong and courageous and to exhibit that. This is not a bad thing as the Bible says, "Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go" (ESV).

Being strong and confident doesn't mean constantly pointing out what's wrong with other people's likes and dislikes. Sometimes a person may feel strong when finding ways they'd like to change others and expressing it. If the purpose behind telling someone you don't agree is not love, it is not good (Corinthians 13). Love respects people—which includes acknowledging and being okay with the fact that people are different in what they like and dislike.

Strength and courage are shown and done the best when they're more viewed in the mindset of a "servant"—meaning that the action is likely to help in some way. It could help one's self because each of us are in Christ and we are not our own—so we should take care of ourselves. But of course it can and often should help others in some way as one of the results.

There have been books on being a "servant leader," which is a similar concept. But really I think this "servant mentality" of loving and not being prideful can apply even when we are not leaders.

Strength and Love

A more philosophical thought from me:  I have often wondered why the bible says, "a strand of three chords is not easily broken" at yet marriage is two people.  An interesting thought recently is that the third chord is the church.  If Christians join with other Christians in marriage and are part of a local church you have three strands.  It is a vaguely philosophical point but as Christians bound together in love we are stronger than if we were on our own.

Biblical Sadness

There is a sadness which is biblical. Jesus wept and cried.

Often the church wishes to distance itself from sorrow. The Christian must always be happy.

Paul described himself as sorrowful but always rejoicing. You see the world is difficult and as Christians we are called to live in and participate in the world.

Often the sense that Christians must always be happy is simply to say that Christians must live in a state of delusion. We are not meant to be happy at all things.

We are meant to have joy which is a deep seated satisfaction in God even in sorrow. Sometimes even this fails, but you see it is not the end.

It is true faith to say, "Lord I believe help my unbelief." We know we love God when we walk through hardship.

You see anyone can say they love God if they have never faced pain and suffering but when we continue to love God when it does not from the worlds perspective make sense our faith is most clearly seen as real.

This is why the bible always says that when we are weak we are strong. You see in our weakness we live by faith. Our strength is Jesus fully man and fully God forever. When we rest in him we are strong.