Resistance Training

James 1:2-4 "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing."

To get stronger you must face resistance. Every personal trainer knows this, as do the athletes they train. The weight you work against enhances your strength, size, speed and stamina. Resistance is an essential element of any serious athlete’s training. Even cardio-vascular workouts include resistance, but that resistance is the limitation of your heart and lungs being stressed. After awhile, an athlete can actually look forward to facing the resistance of training to the point that they enjoy the workout.

“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger” is one of those axioms that is encouraging and inconvenient. Encouraging, because it reminds you of the potential positive outcome from your hardships. Inconvenient, because it rebukes you for griping about it. Our myopic human nature tends to view things from the vantage point of the here and now. So, if at the moment, life is rough, we conclude our lives are bad. Our tongues start spewing out complaints while looking for sympathetic ears to confirm our conclusions. Our emotions grow fatigued, and we are seduced by short-sightedness into despair. Is there a better way to respond? Is there something stronger than our human nature? Yes, there is a better way and it requires a strong spiritual nature that can supersede the human nature.

Years ago, I had a football coach who used to yell out “Diamonds are made under pressure!” and “Oaks grow strong under contrary winds!” When he gave these exhortations, the immediate impact was negligible because of the timing. In the middle of a gut-wrenching sprint workout, we wanted oxygen, not platitudes. But after the workouts, when we could breathe, the words would sink in. As the season proceeded, these phrases were quoted by the players. Even when expressed as a joke, they still reminded us of the truth we all knew. We were a lot stronger than we were before, and it was because of the hard workouts.

Many aspects of athletic competition are paralleled in life. Athletes need resistance, opposition, and hardship. They make the athletes better -- increasing their skills, sharpening their focus, and sweetening their victories. The greatest victories are those over the greatest opponents and greatest deficits. The intensity of the trials endured just getting to the game, increase the enjoyment of being in the contest. Every victory is peppered with momentary and isolated defeats and mistakes which all serve to make the victory that much richer.

What athletes do on game day is a result of how they practiced during the week. The ability to perform well, at the moment of challenge, is produced by one’s familiarity with adversity, difficulty and even defeat. The apostle Paul wrote, “I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified” (1 Cor. 9:27). He continued that thought as he wrote about finishing “the race” a few verses later. He was alluding to spiritual resistance training.

We should follow Paul’s example and not only welcome the resistance, but also pursue it. The discipline, sweat, sore muscles, bruises and breathlessness makes us fit for battle, aligns our vision, and polishes our skills. They bind us together with other believers going through the same ordeal. There is no other way to get stronger and there is no better way to become a united team.

How much resistance is in your life? What is your attitude about it? Do you whine, complain, and murmur? Do you seek to avoid it altogether? Do you seek leisure more often than challenge? If you are like me, you vacillate. Some days you are strong, while on other days you are weak. Sometimes you are ready for the challenge and sometimes you are knocked flat on your back. You experience victories and defeats when facing the same opponent! If you do not quit, you will get stronger. If you do not quit, you will increase your stamina. If you do not quit, your spiritual physique will improve. Like Paul, we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us. He often strengthens us through the resistance we find in our lives.