I have what is called “New Year Energy.”
I count down the days until January 1st when the calendar changes over and I just go for it. I jump into spiritual goals, reading goals, fitness goals, food goals, all kinds of stuff. And I usually follow through and stick to them which apparently makes me weird since study after study says nearly 80% of people quit their resolutions by the second week of January.
Regardless of how you feel about New Years resolutions and goals, if you’re into working out or fitness whatsoever, you are probably familiar with the term resistance training.
How does it work? I’m no expert, but I have a pretty basic understanding of it. Put simply, resistance training is using something that pushes back against your body to make you stronger.
So that “something” could be, weights, resistance bands, your own body weight, machines, even gravity! If your muscles have to work harder than normal, due to something else “pushing” against them, that’s called resistance training.
And the science behind this is actually fascinating. When you put your muscles under stress, this creates tiny tears in the muscle, and when this happens your body goes to work and repairs those muscles and says to itself, “we need to repair these strong enough so that we don’t tear when we come up against that same resistance next time.”
Can you see the spiritual implications of something like this?
Small resistance, done regularly, leads to big changes over time.
Just like our bodies growing stronger through resistance training, our faith grows stronger through spiritual resistance training. In fact, resistance is vital to our personal discipleship to Jesus.
When it comes to resistance or hard times that we face in our lives, the Bible isn’t quiet on this issue. The Bible simply doesn’t shy away from the fact that our lives will be hard! It doesn’t matter who you are, all of life will have some level of resistance. Think about it! Rich, poor, man, women, young, old fill in the demographic, there is hard times waiting for every human being. Those hard times may take different shapes and forms (and some things might be absolutely worse than others), but we all know that money, fame, success, where you live, even your family does not protect you from the hard things of life.
Jesus makes it pretty clear when He says…
“33 Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows.”
John 16:33a
Is this article a bit of a downer so far? Are you feeling a little bit discouraged that you will face hard times in life? Here’s the hope… when we face resistance, we also face a fork in the road. We are presented with an option of who we will trust when we come up against hard times.
On one side of this fork in the road you have the world. Offering its solutions to the hard times that you will face in life. Telling you to just numb yourself with your phone or addiction of choice, ignore your feelings until the next blow up, brush it all under the rug, escape your responsibilities, blame your parents.
But on the other side of this fork in the road stands Jesus. The Good Shepherd. Inviting you to take the hard times that you come up against in life to Him. You see John 16:33 does say that life will be hard, but the rest of the verse says this…
“But take heart, because I have overcome the world.”
John 16:33b
Do you believe that? That Jesus has overcome the world for you? That by trusting Him you will be led into life and life to the full in the here and now and a full eternity with Him?
The hard pill to swallow is that you always choose what you’re willing to go through, based on the vision that you have for your life.
Going to the gym, getting good grades, asking that person out, serving in your church, you fill in the blank but what you’re willing to go through is based on what you believe will happen in the future.
So… which kind of resistance will you choose? If all of life has resistance, and hard times are going to happen to all of us, we need to decide if we will follow the world’s training in hard times and become more bitter, defensive, angry versions of ourselves, or trust Jesus in it all and become more peaceful, content, joyful, loving versions of ourselves? The choice is ours.
10 For our earthly fathers disciplined us for a few years, doing the best they knew how. But God’s discipline is always good for us, so that we might share in his holiness. 11 No discipline is enjoyable while it is happening—it’s painful! But afterward there will be a peaceful harvest of right living for those who are trained in this way. 12 So take a new grip with your tired hands strengthen your weak knees. 13 Mark out a straight path for your feet so that those who are weak and lame will not fall but become strong.
Hebrews 12:10-12
