This might be shocking to you, but I’m not a guy who lifts weights all that much. But even I know that nobody brings a forklift to the gym.
That sounds obvious. But think about what people actually want when they walk through those doors. They want the result, the strength, the endurance, the progress. What they don't always want is the thing that produces it. The set that burns. The run that has two miles left. The morning you show up when every part of you would rather not.
A forklift could move the weight for you. Technically, the bar would go up. But nothing in you would change. That's the whole point. The resistance isn't the obstacle to the goal. The
resistance is how the goal happens.
I think there's a connection in this when it comes to spiritual formation. Because I catch myself wanting a forklift there too.
I want patience, but I want God to just download it. I want a quieter ego, but I'd prefer it happen while I'm sleeping. I want to be more loving, more generous, more quick to listen and slow to speak. I want all of it. I just don't always want to be put in the situations that form it.
And so I pray for change, and then I avoid the very things that would change me.
The people who frustrate me most are often the ones God is using to form me. The
circumstances I most want to escape are frequently the ones doing the deepest work. The
prayers that feel unanswered are sometimes just answered differently than I wanted. Not with removal, but with presence. Not with a way out, but with something being built in.
James, who was not known for sugarcoating things, put it plainly. "Consider it pure joy, my
brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." (James 1:2-4) Let perseverance finish its work. Not shortcut it. Not skip it. Finish it.
I don't think God is indifferent to our pain or uninterested in our comfort. I think He's just far more committed to our formation than to our convenience. And formation, almost by definition, requires something from us. It requires showing up. Staying in the room. Not reaching for the forklift.
This isn't a works-based faith. Grace is still doing the heavy lifting in ways we can't. But grace isn't passive either. It meets us in the effort, not instead of it.
So whatever you're carrying right now, whatever hard thing you keep asking God to just take away, it might be worth sitting with a different question. Not only, "God, get me out of this," but also, "God, what are you forming in me through this?"
The resistance might not be the problem. It might be the point.
peace,
Nick
That sounds obvious. But think about what people actually want when they walk through those doors. They want the result, the strength, the endurance, the progress. What they don't always want is the thing that produces it. The set that burns. The run that has two miles left. The morning you show up when every part of you would rather not.
A forklift could move the weight for you. Technically, the bar would go up. But nothing in you would change. That's the whole point. The resistance isn't the obstacle to the goal. The
resistance is how the goal happens.
I think there's a connection in this when it comes to spiritual formation. Because I catch myself wanting a forklift there too.
I want patience, but I want God to just download it. I want a quieter ego, but I'd prefer it happen while I'm sleeping. I want to be more loving, more generous, more quick to listen and slow to speak. I want all of it. I just don't always want to be put in the situations that form it.
And so I pray for change, and then I avoid the very things that would change me.
The people who frustrate me most are often the ones God is using to form me. The
circumstances I most want to escape are frequently the ones doing the deepest work. The
prayers that feel unanswered are sometimes just answered differently than I wanted. Not with removal, but with presence. Not with a way out, but with something being built in.
James, who was not known for sugarcoating things, put it plainly. "Consider it pure joy, my
brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." (James 1:2-4) Let perseverance finish its work. Not shortcut it. Not skip it. Finish it.
I don't think God is indifferent to our pain or uninterested in our comfort. I think He's just far more committed to our formation than to our convenience. And formation, almost by definition, requires something from us. It requires showing up. Staying in the room. Not reaching for the forklift.
This isn't a works-based faith. Grace is still doing the heavy lifting in ways we can't. But grace isn't passive either. It meets us in the effort, not instead of it.
So whatever you're carrying right now, whatever hard thing you keep asking God to just take away, it might be worth sitting with a different question. Not only, "God, get me out of this," but also, "God, what are you forming in me through this?"
The resistance might not be the problem. It might be the point.
peace,
Nick