"MUSCLES"

“MUSCLES”

James 1:3 “The trying of your faith develops perseverance.”

Racks of iron in a sweaty gym, old plastic weights in the corner of a basement, and high tech machines at the local fitness club, all means to amassing muscles. But bulky biceps, titanic triceps and colossal calf’s aren’t born overnight. There is just no way to quickly form a favorable physique. Even one-named heroes like, “Arnold, Stallone, Tarzan, and Shaq” had to do their fair share of pumping iron before they displayed their sculptured structures.

Now that doesn’t mean we might not try to skirt the rule of hard work. For instance. . . . .Several years ago my only son, a first grader at the time, was taking his Saturday bath (not that he didn’t take baths at other times during the week). After he was finished, my wife, Susan, went in to drain the tub and noticed that all of the shampoo was gone. That was strange, because it was a brand new bottle. She really didn’t think too much about it and went on with her night.

After Brandon was in his pajamas, he came into the family room acting rather strange. He kept staring at his biceps and giggling. So we giggled, too. Sometimes just watching a six-year-old acting weird can make you laugh. I finally said, “Son, what’s so funny?” He just kept laughing. So we kept laughing. Finally he said: “Do my muscles look any bigger?” I said, “Well, they look a little bigger (although in reality they were still the lanky arms of a first grader).” He laughed again. “What’s so funny?” I said. He said, “Come here.” And then he led me to the bathroom, picked up the empty bottle of shampoo, and shared some insight into why he was acting so strange. “Dad, I took this whole bottle of shampoo and put it all over my body. I am feeling a lot bigger. Can you tell? See it says right here: ‘BODY BUILDING FORMULA!’”

What a hoot! I thought I was going to slip a disk I laughed so hard. Susan lost it, too. He even laughed. When we gained our senses, we explained the entire process of hair care to him, and then politely asked him to refrain from trying to become Arnold Schwarzenegger overnight at our expense. As far as we know, he laid off the shampoo regime, and since then every muscle is “el natural!”

There is no easy way to be strong and consistent. It is as testing is endured that our relationship with Christ is more durable. James says, “The testing of your faith produces “perseverance.” The word he uses for “perseverance” can best be translated “toughness.”

R. Kent Hughes in his study on James states: “Here is how this works: we develop toughness or fortitude by repeatedly being tested and ‘prevailing.’ The more tests we pass, the tougher we become. The endurance and fortitude of the Apostle Paul, Billy Graham or Corrie ten Boom did not come overnight, and it was not developed apart from trials. Paul, in Romans 5:3, confirms this truth: ‘But we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance.’

Nature teaches us this principle. Free a butterfly from its chrysalis, and thus from the struggle of liberating itself, and you destroy its life, for it will never develop the strength to soar as it should. When fortitude is lacking in one of his children, God has a time-tested remedy---‘the testing of your faith.’ With this in mind James’ irrational call to ‘consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds’ ----becomes brilliant.”

Are you being tested lately? Consider it an opportunity to become tougher. Toughness only comes over time. You can’t squeeze this element of perseverance out of some plastic bottle during a Saturday night bath. That kind of strength is only found in the fairy tales of first graders.