By Brad Bloom, Publisher
This summer I started training for an autumn marathon. (I’ve pretty well decided it is now going to be a half-marathon for me.) One morning recently while running along the road I noticed a delivery truck passing me slowly. The woman driver craned her head backwards staring at me. With a big smile on her face she simply yelled, “Nice!” The ego boost certainly gave me a good zap of energy to run faster.
What is your point-of-view (or POV) when you are on your back doing a sit-up or crunch? If you have some body fat in your mid-section the POV can be a discouraging tummy that just won’t go away. If you have a very disciplined diet, a great metabolism and regularly work your abs then your POV may be a hard washboard. But here is a POV that maybe you haven’t seen yet: everyone — from the heavy-weights to the feather-weights sit-up against the same amount of resistance — gravity. So, be encouraged, in one sense we’re all on a level playing field.
When it comes to resistance training I want you to expand your point of view. In all likelihood, unless you are a veritable saint, there is lust, anger, temptation, pain, judgment, confusion, tension, priorities, failure or something else in life that you need to resist. Church-going people often call it sin. Whatever name you give it, God will support you as you practice your own personal spiritual resistance training. Sure it’s tough. It hurts too AND nobody is perfect at it. But- do it enough and you’ll get stronger. One day you’ll look at your inner-self and say, “Nice!”
To get there you have to expand your POV even further. You’re pretty good at resistance training. Only it’s the wrong kind. You resist God. You may think he’s given you a heavier burden but the gravity is the same for everyone. The more you resist – the stronger YOU become. Your personal-will isn’t so “nice”.
In GAIN STRENGTH TO DEAL WITH ENERGY ZAPPERS, Wallace Henley will help you identify people that can drain you spiritually. He’ll give you ideas on how you can resist the discouragement and mental blows and instead draw on your faith. Then when you’re ready for a little self-examination read the Gymnos article THE TRAINER. Sometimes when we try to do our best we fail the worst.
Honestly resistance training is a lot about failure. Going the distance is a point-of-view – God’s POV. Not easy by any means but definitely “Nice!”
Train strong in Christ,
-Brad Bloom, Publisher
