As I try to get in better shape, and lose a few pounds, I find myself at the gym more often. Now you must understand I had never been in a gym until about 3 years ago. Prior to that, my experience with fitness machines involved doing a few leg reps on a machine outside the guy's locker room in college. Basically, I have only been the member of one gym in my life.
My point in telling you this is that I am far from experienced in the area of working out, fitness center operations, fitness routines, etc. Before this point in my life, I just rode my bike more when I wanted to loose weight. The results where that I have had no real upper body strength except for a time in college when I worked at the office supply store. With all that said it seems that a simple point made by wife’s trainer about two years ago makes more and more sense to me over time. Paraphrased it would be - "The first 10 reps do not help you, it is the last 5 reps that help you grow stronger."
It is true for my wife, and I have found that to be true for myself as well when I work out. The first 10 or so come easy, it is the last 5 that hurt, and those are the one where the muscles are really taxed and strained. That same thing held true in college, the early (i.e simple) stuff came easily, it was the last third or the growth portion of the class or projects that really taxed me.
Following the same logic now let's look at ministries. Most of the time the basic stuff is easy. Typically these are the things that we have been done before, or the things that in general we have mastered. To accomplish our goals in these areas requires little stress and work on our part. Those around us usually are fine with these ministries as well as they have seen these same ideas, and labors, be profitable in the past. So, my point is that the basic stages of a ministry are easy and little resistence is offered or required.
Over time though that changes, or at least it should. In every good ministry there is a point where that ministry has to go to the next level. This is when the resistence begins, and the seed of real growth in the lives of both the leaders and the followers start to be planted.
The resistence is both internal and external at this point. From a internal perspective, we are now doing things that require us to work. This new work makes us question our ability to accomplish what is set before us because we are now struggling to reach the next step, when just before each step had been easy and virtually effortless. However, when we work through this and accomplish that next step we are stronger and realize that we can accomplish much more then we believe possible previously.
This next step of growth requires us to accomplish and do things that are new to us. At that point, we can no longer just use our past labor and experiences to achieve what is needed in our current place of service. That does not make the previous work irrelevant, actually it is just the opposite. The previous work is required for us to achieve what is ahead of us because the previous work is the foundation that we build on. Many Christians miss that and begin trying to build a new and difficult thing without building the proper foundation beneath to accomplish the new project.
The other struggles that we find appearing when we begin to leave our area of ease and move into new and challenging areas are external struggles. These are things / people calling us to abandon our new work and new struggles for various reasons. Some will call for us to step back because they fear or it appears the new work is worthless. Others do not like the new work simply because it is different then the past. Others are afraid that our new labor may result in new labor for them. Still others fear the actual pain of breaking new ground. Others simply do not want the new work done because it challenges their own work. Along the way we usually get a bit of resistence from family and close friends as well because they do not want us away from them, or busy with other things, any more then we currently are. Their fear is based in the reality that the new work will require more of our time, commitment, dedication and devotion then the past work has.
However, these struggles, both internal and external, are the very things that allow us to accomplish our goals. By facing the struggles and overcoming them we learn that we are capable of more. This builds our mental strength and gives us the hope and encouragement to attempt the next step. In the process of developing this mental toughness, we also develop new physical strength. Throughout this developing process our new, developing, or previous ignored muscles will be sore. In the end we are stronger and better developed then before and the short term pain and suffering is worth the end result. Each additional step beyond our comfort zone makes us stronger and prepares us for the next difficult step that lays before us.
This new work is more difficult as it stretches our spiritual muscles to the point of breaking, yet it is vital to building the next level of our spiritual foundation. Each foundation level that is properly developed allows us to begin building one level higher as we accomplish all that God has for us.
Today you may be getting pressed to the breaking point in some areas, and you are probably working in other areas with relative ease. I know that is true in my life, so I am sure it is similar in yours. We do not need to be pushing ourselves in every area all the time. In some areas we need to just build the foundation and work the easy stuff there, later on that area will be painfully expanded but it is not today. Today we need to focus on those one or two areas where we are working past the easy reps and into our pain zone where we can build new strength and power for the future. These pains will be short, but their results will be long lasting. Many people will call for us to remain in the comfortable zone, but most of those people will never fully build their spiritual strength to where it should be. Our spiritual goal should not to be able to do 1000 reps with no weight, but to accomplish one rep at level that we have never imagined possible before.
God is with us, He is the good trainer, He is the gentle coach, He is motivating and guiding us all the way. Today is the day to push, God will help you through it. Tomorrow, and the day after, and the day after that, etc are also the days to push. Some weeks we may push in the same areas day after day, other times we may push in different areas every day for months on end. The goal is not to just get strong in one area, but to build the well rounded spiritual body that God is calling us too. We can do this by focusing on specific ministries at specific times and moving our focus, as God leads, to the various areas of ministry in our lives at various times.
Today go get stronger, get braver, never fear and push out one more rep for the Lord.
