What Doesn't Kill You...

     Do you know how body building works?  It's actually quite interesting.  When someone lifts more weight than their body is used to, the strain tears their muscle fibers.  When their workout is over, the body scrambles to repair itself and prepare for a similar strain, building itself up.  Gradually, the body adjusts to a certain amount of strain from a certain amount of weight, and in order to become stronger, the weight level must be increased.
     Becoming stronger in faith is like that, I think.

     We often endure trials as Christians.  For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. (Ephesians 6:12)  Satan will do anything to shake our faith and steal our spiritual fruit.  It's also normal to struggle with doubt.  And even though we are new creations in Christ, we're still sinners, and we mess up.
     All of that has the potential to be quite discouraging.  But it doesn't have to be.

     When we stumble and fall into sin, repenting and asking for Christ's help can be a way we become stronger.  When we ask for His forgiveness, He readily gives it, and when we ask for aid in overcoming our sin, He also readily gives it.  Our relationship with Him becomes stronger, along with our faith in His love.  (I am in no way suggesting that sin is a necessary part of growing as a Christian; sin results from our weakness, but through Christ we gain the strength to overcome it).
     It is in trials that we grow the most.  Trials like finding out that a loved one has cancer, or that you're out of a job, or that you just failed a class.  A divorce, a death, a move to a new place where everything is strange, an illness, bankruptcy.  These things can push us to our limits, and it's up to us whether or not we'll turn to the One who exceeds all of our limits by far.  Trusting Him to provide in what may seem to be a hopeless situation is a very serious exercise of faith.  But when we make it out alive, we're stronger in faith than ever, having found strength in the mightiest One of all.  


     On the subject of doubt, a songwriter, Chris Rice, once said that he believed "You hold an exclamation point for every question mark."  God surely does, but He doesn't often let us in on what those answers are.  This can lead us to doubt whether there even is an answer, or an answer holder.  If God is there, does He know what He's doing?  Does He even care about me?  To those questions, God has a definite answer.

Where can I go from Your Spirit?

         Or where can I flee from Your presence?

  If I ascend into heaven, You are there;

         If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.

  If I take the wings of the morning,

         And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,

  Even there Your hand shall lead me,

         And Your right hand shall hold me.

(Psalm 139:7-10)



When we experience doubt, and choose to have faith in God through it, our faith becomes stronger.  When we make the effort to see and believe in God's hand in our lives, His purpose in the trials and the questions, and His love covering us, we stretch our spiritual muscles of faith.  
      Paul prayed for the church at Ephesus: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, what are the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of His power toward us who believe, according to the working of His mighty power (Ephesians 1:18-19)
     Finally, simply following in the footsteps of Jesus every day is a spiritual exercise.  We become more like Him the more we practice His teachings.  Just like with physical exercise, it takes time and practice.  But the benefits are eternal.
For bodily exercise profits a little, but godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of the life that now is and of that which is to come. (1 Timothy 4:8)