Our Faith is Like a Muscle
Muscles atrophy during a serious illness, if a person is bedridden for several days. Or if a teenager breaks a limb and has to wear a cast. Because the muscles aren’t being exercised, they shrink and grow weak. In last week’s post, “Body-Building Faith: Strength Training,” I compared our faith in God to a muscle. Because we can do “spiritual exercises” to increase our ability to trust God in deeper, more powerful ways.
But many don’t. Instead, some Christians actively weaken their faith daily, because of the choices they make.
Just like the Israelites in the wilderness.
Moses’ People—the Ultimate Bad Example
Here’s a spiritual insight that might shock you.
Experiencing divine miracles doesn’t help build up a believer’s faith at all. The Jews coming out of Egypt proved that. They saw the 10 plagues and experienced God’s miraculous provision repeatedly over 40 years. But it made no difference. They lived forever in a sewer of unbelief.
Joshua and Caleb were the only 2 Israelites who strengthened their faith muscles and believed God when new challenges arose…
What did the Former Slaves do Wrong?.
- Self-pity There’s no strength in self-pity. Both Joyce Meyer and I struggled with this sin and got free of it.
- I love what the Lord said to Joyce; “You can be pitiful, or you can be powerful, but you can’t be both” That one sentence changed her life.
An Arrogant Attitude: The slaves coming out of Egypt were stupidly proud. Having repeatedly brought down God’s wrath because of their endless rebellion, they refused to admit to their sin and declared, “The whole community is holy, every one of them” (Numbers 16:3 NIV) Unfortunately, God didn’t agree. They were so corrupt and faithless, Moses had to plead with the Lord not to destroy the whole nation and start over.
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- Neglected Exercise? Praising God’s Character. A holy person follows the Lord and obeys His will.
- Ingratitude: The Jews coming out of Egypt would rejoice for a moment and then grumble for months after..
- Neglected Exercise? Thankfulness. Constantly remembering all the good things God has done in your past creates a thankful heart and a inner feeling of being blessed.
- Whining and Complaining: Moses’ Israelites seemed to have a bad case of “spiritual amnesia.” They never strengthened their faith by remembering all the other times God had saved or provided for them.
- Neglected Exercise? Stones of Remembrance
- Worry: Worry indicates we are focusing on the problem. This emotional sin stirs up greater fear and anxiety in our hearts and it kills faith.
- Neglected Exercise? All of the exercises listed on the previous post. I enjoyed the truth my pastor once shared with the teenagers while on a retreat. “If you know how to worry, you know how to pray.”
One Last Encouraging Word
As a child, I attended in the Episcopalian Church. But when I turned 13, I became an atheist. My faith was non-existent. Seven years later, I became a born-again Christian in college. So please believe me when I say this: every ounce of faith we have ultimately comes from God.
Do you doubt my words? Check out Romans 12.
For by the grace given to me I say to every one of you not to think more highly of yourself than you ought to think, but to think with sober discernment, as God has distributed to each of you a measure of faith. (Romans 12:3 NET)
Here’s the great news; when we honestly confess our faith is low in a certain area, the Holy Spirit doesn’t condemn us for struggling. He already knew our faith is weak. Just confess the problem and ask Him to give you the faith you lack.
As I know from personal experience, the Holy Spirit delights to answer this prayer.
The image came from Pixabay.com.
Resources:
Here is the story of the 12 spies Moses sent into the Promised Land. Only Joshua and Caleb had faith in God. The other 10 spies lied to the people and caused them to rebel.
