Spiritual Training Cycle: Submission (wk. 12/13)
My son is growing into quite the functional fitness athlete. Now, I don’t know where you stand on the whole “Is bench press a functional movement?” controversy, but no matter your stance, keep in mind that my 15-year-old High School Sophomore thinks it’s in. So, we like to bench.
A few weeks ago, things were looking good in the session, so we decided to try for a new PR. You could feel the tension in the gym rise as we loaded some more weight on the bar. I’ve been coaching and spotting the bench press for two decades, so let’s just say I have a sixth sense on if someone is going to have a successful rep.
And he looked solid. Until he didn’t. Attempt number one was a no-go. Along with attempt number two. But I just believed in all my heart that he had it. So we decided to make one more try. I put on his favorite Metallica song and cranked the volume to bring the mojo. He took the bar off the rack, had a good lift on the way down, and then on the way up, over the sounds of “The Memory Remains,” you could hear the roar of my son as he got his new PR. As we high fived and hugged, I told him, “Your first two attempts weren’t failures, they were learning opportunities.”
What do we learn when we fail in the gym? So many things. Like learning to try again. The voice in our head that tells us we can’t or we won’t learns to dial it down when we learn to try again. No failure, no learning opportunity.
We also learn not to be defined by failure. When someone asks what your one rep back squat is, you don’t reply with the weights you’ve failed. Failure does not define you, it refines you. That is, if you’ll let it.
And finally, we learn the value of failing. It’s ok to fail. You’re not going to PR all the time. But if you don’t see the value of failing, then you’re likely to hold yourself back. To “reign it in” more than you should. We learn so much when we fail in the gym.
When it comes to spiritual fitness, we can learn a lot from our failures too, including when we fail to have faith in God. Full disclosure, I’ve failed to have faith so many times. I wanted to trust God so bad and believe in His good plan for my life, but then I let worry in. Followed by anxiety. Followed by trying to figure it all out on my own. And if you’ve ever done that then you’re in good company like me. Because so did one of Jesus’ closest disciples. A guy named Peter.
Peter was having a rough night. He’d just watched Jesus get arrested and hauled off to be questioned and tried by the Jewish leaders. And he was scared. Even though Jesus had told Peter how the whole thing would go down, Peter let his fear and anxiety take over. So much so that he denied even knowing Jesus three times that night. By the way, Jesus told Peter that was going to happen too. God knew Peter’s faith would fail him. When our faith fails, it doesn’t make us a failure. Those moments are simply learning opportunities.
When we fail to keep our faith in God, we also learn a few things. First, we learn how good God really is. The Savior of the world already knows. He already knows you’re trusting your bank account. He already knows you’re gonna question if there’s even a God at all. And in those moments when you find yourself trusting in something other than Jesus, you see just how good God is because He never stops loving you.
We also learn that we weren’t meant to do it on our own. Isn’t that really the end game of losing faith or hope in God? That we end up trying to do it our way or in our time. Trust is the currency of any great relationship. So, when we lose trust in God, it’s like we’re ending the relationship. Which puts us back out there trying to find something else we can trust in.
Finally, we learn that God is ultimately in control. He’s architecting the whole thing. And our restoration to God through faith in Jesus helps us to better see just how in control He actually is. Which means we don’t have to wonder if we’re good with God. We are. He’s bigger than your failures. Even your failure to put your faith in Him.
Questions for Reflection:
What are some situations in your life where you lost trust in God?
What have you learned from failure?
In what areas could you trust God more?
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