the negative

(don't just lift... resist on the way down)

If you’ve spent any amount of time at the gym you’ve seen this guy. He struggles mightily to lift a weight, and then practically drops it on the way down. This process repeats and repeats until he moves on to the next exercise. Now, not only is this dangerous and likely to cause injury, but folks like this are missing half their workout. Just as much growth can be had from resisting during the negative action as by pushing during the positive action. In fact, the human body can resist considerably more weight than it can move from a dead start…and do so for far more repetitions.

“but as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way: by great endurance, in afflictions, hardships, calamities,” 2 Corinthians 6:4

The same is true in our spiritual life. It’s easy and fun to revel in the blessings as they pour in. We give God the credit and tell everyone that He’s driving the bus and we’re just along for the ride. It’s harder to hang in there during the bad times. But if we don’t try…if we don’t resist the crush of the negative we only experience half the growth. It’s incumbent on each of us to resist the urge to check out…to resist blaming God…to resist grumbling and complaining to everyone we meet. Keep praying. Keep trusting. God will help you with the heavy lifting.


Thanks for all you do.

Brian
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Volume 6, Number 12