Get In Your Reps

Happy spring to you—I hope that you had a wonderful Easter in your home, and that you're still celebrating the amazing fact that HE IS RISEN!

I mentioned a few months ago that I had a new personal trainer, and I am loving it! I had noticed that I am just not as young as I once was, yet my grandchildren are growing and growing—so I realized that I need to be serious about staying active so I can keep up with them. Aging is inevitable, and nothing to fear, but doing what we can to stay healthy is so important. Further, I believe that there is a strong connection between our minds, bodies, and spirits; it is impossible to untwine the three parts of a person, which means it is wise to pay attention to staying healthy in all three areas. We can exercise and eat healthy things to be physically healthy. We can read and think about whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, and whatever is admirable to keep our minds healthy. But what about spiritual health? Just once glance at the news, or social media, or at the comments section on just about anything tells us that too few people are focusing on the vitally important area of spiritual health. Let's spend a few minutes today thinking about keeping spiritually fit. 

Yes, that is a 10 pound plate - thank goodness this blog is a no-judgement zone!

​I was listening to a podcast the other day, the topic of which was a lament over the fact that too many Christians never really grow up into full spiritual maturity. They pointed out that too many of our fellowships are designed with only the objective of helping a person come to a saving faith in Jesus Christ. Truly, this is a wonderful thing for any person! However, that is literally just the beginning of a walk with Jesus, and should not be the one and only thing we ever talk about. Accepting Christ is the first step of hopefully many hundreds of thousands of steps that a person will take with Jesus and their fellow believers as they grow in the grace and knowledge of God, together.

So at least part of the problem of stunted spiritual growth comes from this way our weekly gatherings have evolved. Those who gather come in, maybe sing for a few minutes, then sit down shoulder to shoulder and listen, and then possibly greet a few people before trying to beat the parking lot rush. There is a lot of opportunity for growth in whomever is leading the singing or the preaching, but not so much for the rest of us.

The people on this podcast were talking about the true biblical objectives of the regular gathering of the body of Christ of edifying one another, developing godly character, and helping saints grow into maturity, and they mentioned the idea of "getting in reps" while we gather together. This is such a Gym Rat word, reps, and I really love it that they were using it in talking about a church gathering! It means repetitions, whether you are talking about bench press or piano practice or any other thing, and what they meant in this instance was we should actually practice difficult things with each other, so that we can practice having a godly response. Case in point, they mentioned the suggestion of getting in reps of having someone say something awful to you— literally for someone to curse you—so that you can practice replying with a blessing instead of a bitter curse of your own. What an idea!

We may not be leaping at the chance to incorporate this into our weekly gatherings, but we can read the Bible, and we plainly see that Jesus taught that we ought to repay ill treatment with kindness and forgiveness. Jesus taught that we ought to love our enemies and pray for them, not harass them or belittle them or talk bad about them to everyone we meet. But this is exactly what we will do if we are immature. An immature person will retort with an equally vicious and totally selfish reply whenever anyone says something terrible to them or about them, strengthening and perpetuating the evil and ill-will in the exchange. But a spiritually mature Christian, which is what we all should strive to be, will respond in the manner that Jesus would respond.

​The world is filled with keyboard warriors and self-appointed critics. The world absolutely loves a good comeback or a fierce and savage reply; the more cutting, the funnier and the better. If you want to have an incredibly popular social media account, all you need to do is find somebody to attack, and do it with all your might. The world is full of this! But what the world desperately needs is many more men and women who will act and respond like Jesus would act or respond. 

In His sermon on the mount, Jesus describes the people of His kingdom. Before you flip to Matthew 5 to read this,  take a moment to try to describe the ideal follower of Christ. What attributes do you imagine—perhaps strong, unbreakable, formidable, or invincible, never doing anything wrong? That all sounds nice to our ears, but is actually a dangerous road to walk upon: the religious spirit aroused by trying to be perfect in our own strength is nothing less than deadly. We run the risk of becoming as proud as Satan himself, or conversely rendered impotent by a fatal self-loathing. And besides those horrible things, it isn’t at all what Jesus said! He described the members of His Kingdom as meek, merciful peacemakers. This is what each of us ought to aspire to be, and with the Lord’s help, we can become much more like Him with every passing year. The people on that podcast had a pretty great idea about getting in some reps of reacting rightly.

Just like building muscle requires tearing down tissue in order to build it up, character development only happens as a result of conflict or difficulty. This sent me to thinking for quite some time the first time I heard the podcast folks say this. What did they mean? But the more I thought about it, the more I understood. It’s pretty difficult to know if you have become more kind, or patient, or gentle, or filled with self control, or any of the other fruit of the Spirit, unless you have cause to show kindness or patience or self control, etc. It is when things get difficult that we must choose how to respond and react, and the more we choose to respond and react as Jesus showed us how to do so, the more natural it will become to really act like Jesus.

So how can we get some reps in on kindness? The lucky thing is that in this age you don’t have to look very hard for someone to treat you rudely...

Just drive out in your car sometime, and it won’t take long before somebody cuts you off in traffic, or drives too close behind you, or steals that parking space that you were just about to turn into, and so on and so forth. What’s the workout here? Just smile and wave, and I don’t mean a vicious smile, or a very special kind of one-fingered wave, I mean, really smile and wave. Pray a blessing for them as you calmly get out of the way.

Or go to the grocery store, and watch for the person who gets right in your way, or cuts in front of you in line, or frowns at you for no apparent reason. Get in some reps of smiling and giving a gracious amount of space to them, practice not retaliating, or repaying evil with evil. Instead, respond as Jesus would respond with kindness and grace.

Or the next time you check in on social media, practice NOT engaging with the person who is strangely choosing the most public forum ever imagined to vent their frustrations and pains for all the world to see. It is not helpful to return the volley with your own thoughts or to encourage such exhibitionist behavior in anyone: this is such a dangerous path we have embarked upon as a people, and it is not leading anyone anywhere healthy or happy. Instead, breathe a prayer of blessing and grace over that person, and keep on moving. If you must participate online, strive to fill the ether with a little bit of goodness and hope instead of more doom, gloom, and conflict.

And most importantly, in your own home and with your own family, watch for every opportunity to practice being a meek, merciful peacemaker. Meek does not mean being a doormat, it means choosing to absorb injustice without retaliating. Merciful means to be full of compassion or forgiveness toward someone whom it is within your power to punish or harm. And a peacemaker is a person who makes peace instead of making or continuing conflict. 

We have just celebrated the selfless death and glorious resurrection of our wonderful King Jesus. How fitting it would be for every Christian to spend some time and effort getting in some great reps of acting and reacting with love and mercy! We have all had blessing upon blessing heaped upon us by our gracious and loving God—what better time to share some of that with the people around us? Too many people around us are still thinking Easter is just another Hallmark Card day to celebrate springtime with eggs and bunnies with lots of chocolate and treats, so how amazing would it be if we showed them the true meaning of Easter by offering self-sacrificing love to all? 

Besides, everyone knows that a great spiritual workout with lots of reps will help burn off the extra chocolate calories from our Easter baskets!