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Spiritual Muscles
"You are ruining my daughter's higher education!" That was her angry greeting or, rather, lack of it. During the course of the conversation it became apparent that her daughter was covering her tracks by blaming me for something she had neglected to do.
I run into that on a regular basis. Personal responsibility seems to be a dying concept, and it frustrates the life out of me ...
"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and selfcontrol..." (Galatians 5:22). Patience ... Kindness ... Gentleness .". Self-control... Do I ever need them!
I used to think that if I prayed for patience, the Lord would answer by miraculously infusing me with a dosage of it. I'm finding out that it doesn't quite work that way. Rather, the Lord answers that prayer by putting you in situations where you will have to exercise patience in order to develop it.
I think the fruit of the Spirit is like a set of muscles. We all receive them at birth, but they only develop to the degree that they are exercised. There is a world of difference between a couch potato and a professional athlete-same set of muscles, completely different condition. I believe it works the same way in the spiritual realm.
Asking for the fruit of the Spirit to be real in your life is a prayer that God honors by placing you in a "gym" where you will have to exercise patience, kindness, and self-control. And it isn't pretty. You can only be pushed so far before you start fighting back … and then you feel guilty and vow not to lose it again only to fall flat on your face the next time around.
I'd been on that merry-go-round for a while, and I was so discouraged I wanted to take my prayer back. But the Lord reminded me of the athletes I had seen during the Olympic Games-divers and gymnasts who were so graceful they made it look easy. I could almost hear His gentle question, "How did they get there?" It took a lot of sweat, sore muscles and tears. And they weren't graceful at the beginning either. But in time, and with perseverance, it became such a part of them that now they are a joy to behold.
It made me realize that nothing that is worth anything is ever easy... Nothing.
I know now that sore spiritual muscles indicate promise. And that falls are only deadly when you choose never to get up again.
Some day, I will make it look easy as long as I stay at it and keep listening to my Coach who is wise and committed.
Some day, He will look at the fruit of His training... and be satisfied. How do I know?
"Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." (Philippians 1:6)
-Maria Lund