Job 20:1-22:30
2 Corinthians 1:1-11
Psalm 40:11-17
Proverbs 22:2-4
Thirty or so years ago, I was in college, and needed a Phys Ed theory class to graduate. During one of the sessions, the teacher was trying to explain the effect of exercise. The term that stuck was "capillarization", the process by which - as she taught it - through aerobic exercise and weight training, one "tore" muscle, introducing blood flow and, consequently, nutrient into a part of the muscle, thereby allowing it to grow, and grow stronger. I googled the term, and while my PE teacher might not have been completely accurate, she was accurate enough. The key was to subject the muscle to stress - to exercise it. Regular exercise increased capillary density, allowing oxygen to flow more efficiently to the muscle, consequently strengthening the muscle. Simple enough, right?
One problem: exercise. And for every one of you readers who exercises regularly, I bet there are 4 unused gym memberships, 2 treadmills gathering dust bunnies, 3 dumbbells that now make excellent door stops and 84 broken new year's resolutions. But hey, I get it. Exercise takes time, takes work, takes commitment…and it can sometimes hurt. But if you want to get stronger, it is essential and unavoidable. If you want that 6 pack, those pecs and those delts to come bursting out of the folds and flab, you gotta do the work. I understand, though - it isn't easy, and it is easy to get discouraged.
The same thing is true of our spiritual nature. Our godly selves are hidden beneath a layer of worldliness, sinfulness, selfishness and bad habits, formed over the years. In today's reading Paul points out that the suffering we endure is the exercise that increases the capillarization of our faith, and strengthens it with the knowledge that we "might not rely on ourselves, but on God, who raises the dead." Just like Paul, we can take comfort in the knowledge that "he has delivered us from such a deadly peril, and He will deliver us again." And our patient endurance will allow that six pack of faith, that bicep of trust, and that deltoid of joy to burst through the fatty layer of fear and worry and sin.
Father, more than physical health, grant us spiritual health, built on a knowledge of who You are, and a relationship with You. Whatever it takes.
Sent from my iPad
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