When I was a kid, I was fascinated with the Incredible
Hulk. He terrified me, yet I loved
him. It was only when I got older
that I realized the Hulk was really just a bodybuilder named Lou Ferrigno,
painted green. So those muscles don’t just come out of
nowhere…?
I’m sure no one thinks that bodybuilders just spontaneously
morph into beasts, but most of us don’t give much thought to how they got to be
so big. Those enormous physiques
represent years and years of near constant physical trauma. There are three things that are
necessary in order to cause a muscle to grow, and a bodybuilder is someone who is steadfastly committed to all
three.
First, to grow muscle one must exercise. The bodybuilder must bring his muscles
under extreme, sustained stress to the point of actually damaging the muscle
tissue. Obviously, this stress
comes from lifting heavy weights. Most
of us have done vigorous exercise at some point in our lives, whether that be
running or playing sports or lifting weights. For the average person, when we get to the point that
further exertion becomes painful, we stop. But the bodybuilder understands that the real work begins at that point. All the benefit lies in the pain and
beyond it. So he will spend an
entire workout pushing one muscle group (legs, shoulders, back, etc.) or part of one muscle group to complete
exhaustion.
Second, to grow muscle one must eat. Like crazy. Some professional bodybuilders will consume in the
neighborhood of 6000-7000 calories a day. You might think that would give them to
license to eat absolutely anything they want, but they watch their food very
closely. They do eat a lot of
food, but it has to be the right kind of food. They shoot for just the right proportions of the three
macronutrients – proteins, carbohydrates, and fats. The bodybuilder needs the right amount of all three because
all three perform different tasks in the muscle-building process. Proteins are necessary because they
provide amino acids, the building blocks that repair and build the muscle. If a bodybuilder does not eat adequate
protein, his body will actually break down muscle to get the amino acids to
repair muscle. In other words,
without enough protein, his muscles will get smaller, not bigger. Carbohydrates are necessary because
they provide the energy that fuels the bodybuilder’s workouts. Without carbohydrates, he will not be
able to push himself to the point of sufficiently stressing his muscles. It may seem counter-intuitive, but fats
are also essential for a bodybuilder.
Good fats provide a variety of benefits, including slowing down
digestion, lubricating the joints, and supporting testosterone production. A bodybuilder who is not eating enough
of the right fats will be spinning his wheels in his attempt to build muscle.
Third, to grow muscle, one must rest. In light of how huge these guys are
it’s natural to assume that they must workout for hours a day, 7 days a
week. The truth is that they are
just as fanatical about rest and sleep as they are about lifting and
eating. This is because they
understand that muscle recovery and growth happens during rest. Most professional bodybuilders will not
workout on less than 8 hours of sleep.
They also do not workout everyday.
Some only workout 4 days a week, with one day of rest in between each
workout.
When all three of these factors are present – exercise,
eating, and rest – muscles grow.
The extreme exercise causes trauma to the muscles that must be
repaired. During rest, the body takes
the nutrients that have been eaten and uses them to repair and build the muscle
tissue. Working together, the
three factors cause both the multiplication of muscle fibers and the expansion
of muscle fibers, so that the muscle gets bigger. If a person does that long enough with dedication and
intensity, he will eventually look something like Lou Ferrigno.
It’s remarkable the parallels that muscle growth has to the
process of sanctification. When we
see someone who is extremely mature in the Lord – sometimes referred to as a
“spiritual giant” – we don’t typically think about what took place to bring
them to that level of maturity.
Those among us who are most like Christ are usually those who have
experienced great pain and trauma, while applying the biblical tools for
recovery.
Like our muscles, we only grow spiritually when we are
brought under extreme, sustained stress.
The bible calls this stress trials. And what do we typically do when the
pain or discomfort begins in a trial?
We want to stop. We want to
find a way out. But the
spiritually mature understand that God has a purpose for the pain. He wants to grow them into the image of
Christ. So they endure the pain,
even regarding it with joy, knowing the benefit that will come in the end (Jas1:2-4).
But in order for the trials of our lives to result in
growth, we must be implementing what we could call the “three spiritual
macronutrients”. First, we have to
be taking in God’s Word. Jesus
prayed in the Garden, “Sanctify them in
the truth; your word is truth” (John 17:17; cf. 2 Tim 3:16-17; Eph 5:26; 1Pet 2:2). Without interpreting our
circumstances and pain through Scripture, we cannot think biblically about them
and we have nothing to draw on in responding to them. As Jesus said, we must not “live by bread alone, but by
every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matt 4:4).
Second, in order to grow through our trials, we must be
spending time in prayer.
Repeatedly, the New Testament calls us bring our cares to the Lord in the
context of trials and suffering.
In 1 Peter, the apostle gives instruction on how to be faithful in the
midst of persecution. This
teaching is capped with the following exhortation from 5:6-7: Humble yourselves, therefore, under the
mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all
your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. Similarly, Paul calls us
to “not be anxious about anything, but in
everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be
made known to God” (Phi 4:6). It
is through prayer that we bring the pain and confusion of our trials and lay it
before the Lord, trusting Him to grow us through it all.
Third, to grow through our trials, we must be actively
participating in the life of the body of Christ. Eph 4:1-16 demonstrates that God has given the church to the
church to help the church be the church.
He has gifted every member of the body to serve every other member of
the body so that the body “builds itself up in love.” God has designed sanctification to take place within the
context of the community of the saints.
It is there that we find admonishment when we are idle, encouragement
when we are fainthearted, and help when we are weak (1 Thess 5:14). It is there that we are stirred up to love
and good works by those who also are encountering trials and pursuing holiness
(Heb 10:24; 1 Pet 5:9; 2 Tim 2:22).
In addition to these “spiritual macronutrients”, we also
need rest, that is, we need to trust in the sovereign hand of God. In Rom 8:28-39, Paul points to the
sovereign plan of God as a source of great comfort to the believer who finds
himself in the midst of various trials.
God is forcing all things – including and especially the painful things
– to do us good, to conform us to the image of His Son, Jesus Christ.
When we put all of these things together – trials, God’s Word, prayer, fellowship, and rest – we have the recipe for tremendous
spiritual growth. Sadly, most of
us never consider what God is doing by bringing these trials into our lives. And because we do not understand the
purpose, we are not intentional about resting in Him and about implementing
those spiritual macronutrients.
Like a bodybuilder who works his muscles to exhaustion but does not eat
or rest, we simply spin our wheels, not getting any more mature, but just
experiencing a lot of pain.
Consider what God is doing in you right now and think about
how you are responding:
1) What
specific trial or trials are you experiencing right now? If you are a believer, the ultimate purpose
for these things is to cause you to grow.
2) How
are you responding? Are you
looking for a way out of the pain?
Or are you staying with the “burn,” looking for what God is trying to
teach you, understanding the benefit it will have if you remain faithful?
3) Are
you getting your spiritual macros?
Are you in the Word? Are
you praying? Are you engaged in
the lives of other believers and allowing them into yours? In order to grow, you’ve got to eat.
4) Are
you resting in the sovereignty of God?
Are you focusing on God and His loving plan or on your circumstances and
their seeming meaninglessness? In
order to grow, you’ve got to rest.
Count it all joy, my
brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing
of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be
perfect and complete, lacking in nothing (Jam 1:2-4).
Posted by Greg Birdwell
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