FEBRUARY 8 "ABANDONED IN MY TIME OF NEED"

  This may end up being one of the greater indictments against The Church of Jesus Christ at our judgement; that we abandoned our brothers and sisters in their most dire time of need.  In our reading today, the Psalmist  eludes to a time of great anguish in his life and because of this his strength is failing; he then goes on to say concerning his friends, "I am a dread to my friends....I am forgotten by them".  Unfortunately, it is when we are not at our best that our brothers and sisters in Christ seem to get turned off by us and often abandon us when we need them the most!  Why is that? Is it because of selfish reasons, after all, who doesn't want to hang around upbeat people full of joy and victory, but are there not times that we need to also grieve with those that are grieving?! Another reason is their weakness probably turns us off, "why are you even struggling with this ....what's wrong with you!!?" Thence, we're turned off and leave them to struggle alone.  I am not talking about a brother/sister who has strayed, is unrepentant and living in sin, I'm talking about a brother/sister who is simply struggling and weak in their faith, probably missing church and putting out a lack luster performance. Do we have empathy for those consumed in anguish or do they now become a dread to us, as the Psalmist writes.  Are they forgotten by us as we move on to fellowship with our more jovial brethren, after all, who wants to be brought down?! Be careful, there's often a demonic strategy here, as the brethren turn their backs on the weak because they are turned off by their weakness, the sinner(s) now come around to comfort because they are not turned off and what can happen is a re-kindled allegiance with the world can be formed in these times because we will often gravitate towards those that are there for us in our time of need, whether that be the world or the church, we will gravitate towards the one(s) that show us empathy. One of the grater indictments against the church will be our lack of empathy for our struggling brothers and sisters in Christ.