Building Spiritual Muscles
Sometimes it takes many words to convey a message and sometimes I think it takes few.
It’s been weeks since I’ve posted a blog because when I have a concept I want to share, I bury the concept in a lot of words, the LORD lets me know it’s not right and I let it go.
This week a friend of mine reached out and told me she’s really struggling with the concept of minding her own business. She has coworkers who are skimping on hours and not doing the work they should be doing, falsely reporting hours and SURELY her boss must know what they are doing.
For weeks my answer has remained the same:
1 Thessalonians 4:11-12
“Aspire to lead a quiet life, to mind your own business, and to work with your own hands, as we commanded you, that you may walk properly toward those who are outside, and that you may lack nothing.”
Me: Unless you are the boss of that coworker, what they are doing is none of your business. Let the way YOU work be above reproach. Let your work speak for itself so that you may walk properly as a light to those around you who are NOT walking in the light. If you mind your own business and do what YOU need to do, scripture says that you will lack nothing. Do you have a job?
Her: Yes.
Me: Be grateful for that job, and do your work well.
Her: It’s so hard to not say something!
Me: It is actually extremely simple and easy.
In 2016 or so, I had a friend who trained me for a year in Crossfit. It was SO HARD!
When she first started training me, we would run a quarter mile and I’d be gasping for air. We would do a 5 minute set with 5 pound dumbbells and a jumping box and my heart would be beating so hard as I laid on that concrete that I could literally FEEL my body pulsating against the concrete. We could work out for 10-15 minutes and my body would be SO SWEATY that if I laid on the concrete, my entire body would make what she called a “Sweat Angel” on the ground.
As the weeks turned into months, I noticed that it was getting easier. In the beginning, her warmup felt like a workout. Over time, the warmup didn’t even break a sweat.
One day we were doing something that I was completely unable to do when we started and I blurted out, “Hey Lisa, this is easy!” She didn’t skip a beat when with a drop dead serious face she said, “It’s not easy Donna. It’s no easier than the first day you attempted it. It is JUST AS HARD. You’re stronger, that’s all.”
Learning to walk like Jesus is kinda like training with Lisa. At first when you try to do what He does, it feels impossible….and it is. He modifies things a little for you KNOWING you can’t do it like Him yet, but as you get stronger, He gently encourages you to stretch a little and to try something new.
When Lisa would up my weights or reps or give me a new exercise to try, the next couple of days, I’d feel it! I’d be sore, but that soreness would gradually dissipate and the next time she’d have me try it, it would be a little easier.
Jesus will give you little opportunities to speak truth in love or maybe to hold your tongue and not say something. Oh, in the moment, it feels almost impossible and for the next couple days, you might even feel a little sore about it, but in time, you will experience the supernatural peace that comes with following His leading in what you say. Before long, holding your tongue happens effortlessly.
It didn’t get easier…you just got stronger.