Friend Pain

The old saying goes “No pain, no gain.” I’m in my second week of working out at the gym. Over the last few days I have been using muscles that once sat comfortably on the couch. Today as I have gone about my normal work routine it is with a new friend: Pain.

Please don’t misunderstand; I’m not looking for pity. If I wanted people to feel sorry for me then I would not have bothered going to the gym this morning. Most of us run from pain and seek comfort at any cost. I have chosen to embrace pain as a welcomed visitor, a new friend who will help me become a better me.

What is true for my physical body is also true for the real me. Will my spirit choose to satisfy the yearning of my flesh to eat drink and be happy at any cost, or will I obey God’s plan and purpose for me as His child to live each day just like Jesus?

• We do not enjoy being disciplined. It is painful . . . You have become weak, so make yourselves strong again.

Hebrews 12:11-12 NCV

Let’s be honest: we all like being “spiritual couch potatoes.” We make the mistake of thinking we can live on autopilot, but our spiritual life is just going through the motions. Spiritually our arms become feeble and our knees weak. Obedience to God’s word becomes the sin of complacency and compromise.

God awakens us from our spiritual slumber through the pain of discipline. God wants us to enjoy a “harvest of righteousness and peace,”* but it cannot be found through our pursuit of happiness. Lasting joy is found only as we embrace the pain making it our friend. Running from the pain won’t make it go away. Instead the pain will only intensify showing us our weakness - our sin.

I’m glad God does not want to leave me in my sin. I pray that the Lord will not let me sleep comfortably on the couch. Instead may I hear His call to “Wake up! Strengthen what remains”* As I wake up in the morning to make my way back to the gym may it be a reminder to also let pain be my friend spiritually. With God’s help I can live each day just like Jesus.

*Hebrews 12:11; Revelation 3:2 NIV

Maturity

It has taken me a lifetime to get into the shape I’m in. Round is a shape, and getting rounder is so easy; in fact it is effortless. My wife Susie and I knew it was time for each of us to take some action to improve our shape (literally it was time to start moving and stop being a couch potato). Thus we have joined a local heath club to start getting some exercise.  

But was it really necessary to get a family membership? My teenage kids hardly need to workout; I mean you could not describe their lifetime shape as “round.” After just two days of going to the gym I’m glad I did.

The first day at the gym I went by myself. I think I could keep myself motivated for awhile, but I know it wouldn’t be long until I’d give up on the whole thing. I’m sure that Susie would keep me motivated even longer, but let’s be honest: neither of us have ever been the “workout type.” Today I went to the gym with my daughter. My attitude was completely different. Not only did I enjoy her company, but watching her run and her encouraging words inspired me to do more than I had done the day before. 

It occurred to me that’s how it is supposed to be.

Until we're all moving rhythmically and easily with each other . . . fully mature adults, fully developed within and without, fully alive like Christ. 

Ephesians 4:13 MsgB

The goal of our faith in Christ is maturity, to live like Jesus. One thing I’ve learned, both in day to day life and as a believer, getting older does not necessarily make you mature. Jesus call us to “make disciples” not converts (see Matthew 28:19-20). Years have passed since I first accepted Christ as my savior, but maturity did not come by the passing of time. Maturity came by being a “doer of the work;” and with “perseverance” (see James 1:2-4 NIV, 25 KJV). Ultimately, however, I did not learn these things on my own. I grew with the help of the mature.

When it comes to fitness my teenage kids are more mature than I am. My kids will keep me going when I want to quit my morning workouts. Likewise you and I are called to encourage others, and especially new believers, to not give up but keep pressing on to maturity.

A New Beginning

Believe it or not a new year has begun. No matter how quickly you or others have felt like the last few months have flown by, the fact remains that we all have to get used to writing “2011” on our checks (it could be March before I get that right). Yet with a new year we all look forward to a new beginning.

What is it about the change of the calendar from December to January that gives us the sense of having a fresh start? Perhaps it is the thought that our mistakes and failures of the previous year really are in the past. We can leave the past and move into the coming days with a clean slate. The possibilities of the new year are before us. Seize the day!

Perhaps that’s why each new year so many of us make resolutions. We want to lose weight, get in better shape, or stop smoking. Relationally we plan to be a better husband or wife, a better friend. As Christians we resolve to pray more, to read through the Bible. Yet whatever our resolutions many are broken and abandon before Valentines Day.

I have some goals and desires that I would like to accomplish in the 365 days we call 2011, and with God’s help I will look back at the coming year, not with regret or amazement at how quickly time flies. Instead I intend to be thankful for what God has helped me accomplish.

• Delight yourself in the Lord and he will give you the desires of your heart.

Psalm 37:4 NIV

Ultimately each of my goals for the new year boil down to this one thing. The more I purpose to keep God first in my life, the more I will see my desires being fulfilled. Not that God will simply give me everything I want. Better than that, God will fill my heart with His desires. God wants to transform me in to the person He knows I can be. Losing weight and exercising more is part of taking care of the Holy Spirit’s temple. That’s why I’ve joined a health club and got up early this morning when I would have liked another hour of sleep.

You can call these new year resolutions if you want. I choose to see each day as a new beginning in which God fills my heart with desire, not for a new year, but for this moment to live and breath and be the person He is making me to be.

The End

The last day of the year and I find myself standing beside an open casket. For the hundred or so family and friends of "Uncle Rich"* attending his funeral service was the last place they thought that they would spend the day on New Year's Eve. Just a few days before "Uncle Rich" sat around the table playing Apples to Apples. He was bright and witty; laughter filled the air. The next day he died suddenly of a massive stroke. No prologed illness, no warning signs. At 84 he was full of life one day and the next his life suddenly came to the end.

New Year's Eve marks the end of a year with the celebration of the new. When you think about it, the timing of our New Year is random at best. The seasons mark off the passing of one year and the coming of a new, but our New Year's Eve is situated between the winter and spring solstices. Personally, it makes more scense to mark a new year with the spring solstice as life renews itself (but the coming of spring in the north marks falls arrival in the southern hemisphere - hardly a new beginning).

Nevertheless New Year's Eve and the dawn of a New Year mark our calendar each year. "Uncle Rich" like you and me have no such date circled on a calendar to plan for "The End;" it comes whether we are ready or not.

• It is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.

Hebrews 9:27 ESV

"The End" is a day set for each of us by God. And when that day comes we will each be judged by God. "Uncle Rich" was read to stand before the Lord. His faith in Jesus and life of generosity made him rich toward God. Imagine "Uncle Rich celebrated his Savior's birth and when the end came he was literally born into heaven.

And so this New Year's Eve celebration takes on a special meaning. As we celebrate the end of one year and the beginning of a new, I can also celbrate our faith in Christ. Death is not the end. For all who are ready for that day death is only the beginning.

*"Uncle Rich" was not his real name.