Strengthened

My three oldest boys are all excited this week. They were tested in athletics to see what their maximum lifts were on the bench press, incline press, and squats. Taylor hit two new personal records for bench press and incline press. Tanner had personal bests in his bench press and squats. Tucker beat his old bench press record and squat record too.

I am proud of each of them. They work extremely hard before and after school. I have tried to model working out as a way of life way past when their playing careers are over. At 47 I am no longer setting new personal lifting records. In fact, what I used to be able to lift thirty times I could only do seven times this morning. I am able to live with that.

We put so much emphasis on outer strength. We see a big burly guy with bulging biceps and we immediately classify him as strong. What about inner strength? I am referring to strength like enduring faith, maintaining hope, remaining calm in the middle of chaos, having internal peace, being renewed with joy, overcoming obstacles in life, and maintaining mental focus on what God says rather than what a person sees. All of these things are necessary to live.

In college God enabled me to be strong. I recall taking a weight lifting class. To get an "A" in the class I was supposed to bench press 225 pounds ten times. I ended up pressing 315 pounds 17 times. Yet that  has not helped me to get through the tough seasons of life.

Like when my mother got sick and died three months later. Like when I found myself out of ministry shortly after Brenda and I got married and out of work for a short season. Then there was the time when we tried to start a church and four years later it failed and disbanded. God did not open another door to serve in a church for eighteen months. There have been numerous times when the pressures of ministry; counseling, preaching, visiting hospitals, planning, and officiating at funerals were overwhelming. In all of those seasons I could not bench press way of out of those trials. I needed a different kind of strength. The kind you cannot find in the gym.

The kind of strength we need is found in the Holy Spirit in the inner man. [Eph 3:16] "That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man." The word strengthened in this verse means to be "empowered and to be mighty." Some of the physically strongest people in the world can crumble emotionally. Stories abound about athletes unable to cope with life who killed themselves and or those of people they loved.

We need strength in the inner man than only is supplied by God through the Holy Spirit. My physical strength wanes a little more each year. I can be strengthened anew in my inner man until my dying breath. Even when the body turns feeble we can still be stronger than ever in our inner man with mighty faith, boldness, and peace through the Holy Spirit.

Now, let me ask you. Where are you putting all your energies and focus? Are you still trying to hold onto your youth through fitness and exercise. The outer man is perishing. It happens to all of us. I am not saying we should not work out. I am just saying we need to put more focus on strengthening the inner man as we seek God and yield to His work in our lives. Strong inner people are able to live well and to die well also.

I am proud of my three sons' accomplishments. They have worked hard and God has given them strength. I would rather a whole lot more they learn the power of being strengthened in their inner man for the battles of life that lay ahead for them. Prayer, scripture reading, scripture meditation, and scripture memorization are indispensable aids the Holy Spirit will use to strengthen all of us in our inner man.