Is It Supposed to be This Hard?
Resistance. That word itself doesn’t sound like a uplifting word.
It may invoke feelings of deprivation. It can be looked at with someone pressing harder on someone for one reason or another to inflict pain or punishment. It can also be seen as the opposition rising up against the oppressor.
Whatever the way you are thinking, resistance usually involves some strength, willpower, endurance to stand against something.
Sometimes the resister overcomes and sometimes they lose. There seldom is a tie when it comes to resistance.
One analogy of resistance is in the physical fitness arena. There are exercise equipment even called resistance bands which sole purpose is to force you to feel resistance. Any type of weightlifting has the weights as a form of resistance to cause strain on your muscles while pumping iron.
As I walk on the treadmill and think, I cannot think of any sport where there isn’t some form of resistance. Swimmers have the resistance of the water to push through, runners have wind or hills to sprint up, bicyclist have the friction of the tires meeting the concrete. Whatever sport you can think, there is always resistance.
Because resistance can be the opposing wrestler, player, athlete you are against.
In these scenarios, athletes yearn for resistance because they know resistance makes them “Swifter. Higher. Stronger,” per the Olympic motto.
You never see a mediocre athlete competing in the Olympics. These are the best athletes in their country and world. You see them pressing their bodies harder than the couch potatoes could dream watching them run their marathons at world record pace.
And when they cross the finish line and complete their event, there is sometimes raw emotions whether with a win or a loss. Because they have been training their entire lives for this one chance in time. Many athletes only have one time to shine and win that medal…it’s all or nothing.
So those years of training, those early morning workouts, those years of intense regime and dieting culminates to this one moment.
That is when those moments of resistance will either rise or fall.
But what about our faith?
Should we have resistance in our faith?
I thought God would want His people to have a fulfilled life without resistance.
But how would you know a fulfilled life without those moments of hardship? How would you regale in your joyous mornings without enduring those long, dark nights? How would you know the full potential of God if you never relied on Him when you were being pressed?
Faith isn’t something to keep on the back burner. God isn’t someone to keep hidden under your bed in a fireproof safe. It should be front and center in all aspects of your life. It should be your identity. It should be how the world sees you.
Because the world is the great resistance.
If people don’t see Christ through your actions when you are at work, whose actions are they seeing?
If people don’t see Christ in you in a classroom, who do they see?
Sometimes I feel we confuse doing a good deed with Christ centered actions. We do good works to receive the accolades and pats on the back. We do it so the spotlight is on us and we kick God to playing understudy.
When the roles should be reverse. He should be more and I should be less.
Lately, I have been playing the role of a resister to some of my guys at church. Pressing them, asking them, questioning them. It may be uncomfortable for them, but it’s not all bells and whistles for me either.
But sometimes God calls us to be the resister to push people into the better image of Christ in them. They may not see the potential they hold, but I do.
So that little daily Bible readings may not mean much now, but it will. Those daily prayers may seem like small tidbits now, but it is more. Those little offerings may seem minuscule now, but God doesn’t need our fortunes.
He just desires our heart.
So, if your faith seems tough, count your self blessed because those moments of resistance will make you as pure as gold.
If your faith seems draining, count yourself worthy that God sees potential in you to refine you.
If your faith seems exhausted, rest in Him who gives peace and strength.
If your faith seems lost, come to Him who says seek and you shall find.
If your faith seems like a workout, take great comfort you are not alone.
You may be worn out now, but tomorrow…the soreness may be gone and you may see a little more definition in the muscles of your faith.
“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.”
1 Corinthians 9:24-27 ESV
https://bible.com/bible/59/1co.9.24-27.ESV
“Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”
Hebrews 10:23 NIV
https://bible.com/bible/111/heb.10.23.NIV
Don’t steer away from resistance…keep the course, keep the faith and run the race. It doesn’t matter where you place as long as you are running towards Him.
Peace
