The more you learn to resist what ought to be resisted the stronger you get. The converse is also true, the less you resist what ought to be resisted the weaker and more mentally and spiritually feeble you become.
Resistance is key to personal, physical and spiritual growth.
Lifting weights is called “resistance” training for a reason. Weights want to be on the ground, that is what heavy does. A friend of mine calls heavy things “gravitationally enhanced.” While not exactly true, it makes the point…the only way to pick things up is to resist the downward force of gravity.
One of the mistakes I have made in the past in lifting weights has been to focus more on how much I could lift than how well I could resist the weight. Some people call this the negative. Think of the benchpress when the weight is up and being lowered to your chest. Being strong isn’t just about pushing it back up but about your ability to lower it to your body. Training that portion of the lift makes your overall lift stronger. The same is true in life. It isn’t just about how much I can push but how much I can resist what must be resisted.
I can exert myself on others and the world around me in a number of ways…it takes little discipline to do that. It takes far more discipline, even strength, to learn to resist. The wisest and mentally toughest people you know are those who know how to resist what needs to be resisted in life. Now go and be like them. Train in that area and watch your heart, mind, and soul become your strength.
Resist snap judgements.
Resist feelings of superiority.
Resist desires contrary to the Spirit.
Resist attitudes that demean and degrade others.
Resist pride, arrogance, and all forms of self-centeredness.
Resist…and grow.
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The problem is there is a segment of the church in which its cultural pride is so woven into the fabric of its religion that to resist these feelings of superiority is the way one starts to drift away from “the truth”, from “the church, from “the Lord”. So many shake off the need to resist because they feel it is a betrayal. Thank God for those who do resist. They may have to do it silently for a while…but they know they should not stop.
When we start thinking of the church as a thing instead of the people it is easy to lose sight of humbleness, because we have transformed a imperfect people into a perfect church. God didn’t want perfect worship, but perfected worshippers who focus on God 24-7, not only three hours out of the week. Unlike many tracts of the past, worship is a heart felt religion, because it is with the heart we desire God and to God’s will.