“I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides Me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know Me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides Me; I am the Lord, and there is no other.” (Isaiah 45:5-6 ESV)
Physical strength varies and is fleeting. I found the legend of Milo of Croton quite intriguing. While on his morning walk as a young boy, he noticed a calf caught in a thicket. Milo picked up the calf and carried it up a hill back to its herd. While weighing only about sixty pounds, it still stressed the young boy to make the trek but sparked in him a plan.
For the next four years he carried what began as a calf, but grew into a bull, up that hill. His strength was incredible and became legendary.
Today the strongest man in the world by many measures is Zydrunas Savickas. What’s my point? Regardless of how great our physical strength becomes, it fades. Our bodies weaken, and we eventually die.
However, in a spiritual sense, our strength in Christ will never die, but will continue to grow stronger until our faith finds its fulfillment in Jesus. The legend of Milo speaks to the progress of the building of our faith as in a very real sense, faith only grows over time with exertion. If we never had a trial or problem, our faith would grow flabby and weak.
As Toby McKeehan observed: “Don’t worry that you’re not strong enough before you begin. It is in the journey that God makes you strong.” That’s all well and good, but what does strengthening faith look like? What is faith at its core and how do we know whether it’s getting stronger or weaker?
Essentially, as a believer in Jesus, our faith is the assertion that Jesus is God in human form, that He died in our place on the Cross, that He overcame death, hell, and the grave through His death when He did what we could never in eternity have done for ourselves. He paid the penalty for our sin and offers us forgiveness and a new life in Him when we seek His forgiveness and pledge our allegiance to Him.
Strength in this context basically means growing in our conviction that Jesus is exactly who He claimed to be, increasing in our devotion to Him and our effectiveness and fruitfulness for Him. We “exercise” our spiritual faith “muscles” by investing time and effort in reading and studying God’s Word, the Bible, by spending quality time and effort in learning to pray, then praying regularly and intentionally. It also involves aligning ourselves with other like-minded believers who are at different levels of spiritual maturity, but are all growing in their likeness of their Savior.
Our strength increases when we face various challenges that force us to trust the Lord or may even give rise to doubts. Ultimately, we learn to believe He is with us in our trials and will work the outcome for our good, or we will doubt Him and allow our faith to weaken. Doubts, while not necessarily bad, can lead to deepened faith, as it did with Thomas, or abandoning faith, as it did for Judas.
Craig Groeschel said: “The way we respond to life’s challenges today will determine the strength of our faith tomorrow.” The key, as I understand it, is to allow ourselves to do two things when difficult circumstances threaten our walk with the Lord. First, believe from the outset that the Lord has allowed whatever it is for our good and His glory. And secondly, share our need with believing friends who will support us in prayer and walk with us every step of the way.
Growing faith-strength comes in direct proportion to overcoming trials and difficult circumstances.
Food for thought.
Blessings, Ed 😊
Walking With Jesus 