Spiritual Muscle

I have the privilege to coach 22 7th graders at Ford City Jr./Sr. High School the game of basketball. This recently got me thinking. When I played basketball, I did many drills to develop muscle memory. What is muscle memory you may ask? It's where you do something over and over again to where you can do it without even thinking about it. Your muscles just react to different situations. I would do dribbling drills, and shooting drills, to develop muscle memory so I could do them in my sleep if I had to. The only problem is I only developed certain muscles. I was happy with being able to dribble and shoot and never developed any other areas. It's kind of like a weightlifter who does his arms only. Eventually, his arms are huge and well sculpted, but his chest and legs, well lets just not go there. Or if someone only works on their upper body and gets cut but never does anything with their legs, you end up with string bean legs holding up a well built upper body.

Now I say all of this because we take this mentality into our walk with the Lord. We all have something in our walk with Jesus that we have done over and over again to the point that we can do it in our sleep. It may be praying. It may be fasting. It may be evangelizing. Etc. When problems come, we tend to rely on that muscle. The problem is that we do nothing to develop the other muscles to truly drive off the enemy. We may be good at praying but if we could develop the habit of fasting to go along with our prayer time, how much stronger we would become.

I am seeing in myself, where I have relied on the spiritual muscles that I have built up through the years but have forgotten about the other muscles that could help me fight the good fight. I so often turn to those built up muscles to help me fight the battle but sometimes the battle is greater than those muscles can take. Just like getting into a baskball game. I might be able to dribble around people and shoot really well but if I can't pass to open teamates then how effective will I be in the end? The battle of good and evil rages around us and we need to discipline ourselves to do the hard work to build these weaker muscles so that eventually, they will become a part of our lives.

This month and this coming year of 2009, let us begin to build the spiritual muscles that we have not touched in awhile. Develop the muscle to pray. The muscle to fast. The muscle to evangelize. The muscle to sit in silence. The muscle to read God's Word. Whatever muscle it may be. Then when a problem comes, instead of relying on what we always do, let us use these other spiritual muscles.

Can I get an "AMEN!" (This is probably where we gulp and wonder if we can do this and think that we probably can't. Yes, you can do this. As I tell my 7th graders in basketball we don't say can't. If I only taught them things they knew then what kind of coach would I be. The same goes for being a pastor. If I only challenged you in areas that are strengths, what kind of pastor would I be? You can do it and I believe that you will!)