I don’t remember much about
Hamlet from high school English except that everyone dies. There’s one death in particular that sticks out to me. There’s this guy named Polonius who had what my high school English teacher called a tragic flaw. He’s really nosy—so nosy, in fact, that while he’s eavesdropping behind a curtain, he is mistaken for someone else and gets killed.
Shakespeare didn’t invent tragic flaws. We all struggle with sin, but I believe that each person has an area or two that, if not surrendered to God, will eventually kill him spiritually.
God doesn’t want our tragic flaws to kill us. He wants us to be aware of them so we can surrender them to him. I think it’s part of what Philippians 2:12 is talking about (“work out your salvation with fear and trembling”). Polonius doesn’t die simply because he’s in the wrong place at the wrong time. He dies because he’s put himself in compromising situations again and again.
Think of the ways you struggle most. Chances are there is a common theme. For me, I want to find my significance in people rather than God. I end up doing things I never thought I would because I feel loved or desperately want to feel loved. I forfeit looking for God’s approval to find the approval of someone else.
For some, pride is their tragic flaw. Others live for pleasure or selfishness. If something is blocking your relationship with God over and over again, it is probably a tragic flaw.
Polonius didn’t have any hope, but we do. With Christ, those flaws don’t need to be tragic. Here are a few things God has taught me about tackling my tragic flaw:
Know your weaknesses.
Proverbs 27:12 says, “The prudent see danger and take refuge, but the simple keep going and suffer for it.” I don’t think the things that we struggle with are supposed to be ignored. I need to go to God every single day (or 100 times a day) and tell Him that I need help trusting that His love for me is real and enough. God wants to meet the needs in our lives. He wants to fill them with himself. We don't need to be constantly fearful; we just need to be wise.
Surrender weakness to God and ask for wisdom.
One of the most beautiful parts of following God is that He wants us to ask Him for help and then He gives it to us. David prays this to God in Psalm 51:6: “Surely you desire truth in the inner parts; you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.” Again and again I have asked God for wisdom and insight about myself and the things I struggle with, and again and again He gives it to me. It usually isn’t as immediate as I want it, and it doesn’t always come in the forms I think it will, but God always helps.
Praise God for small steps.
I always forget to thank God for progress. I get so focused on where I want to be that I forget to thank God for the things he teaches me along the way. I know He wants us to remember. He reminded the Israelites all of the time to remember what He’d done for them. Thankfulness gives us perspective. It turns our eyes away from us and puts them on God, which is exactly where they should be.
