Faith Is A Muscle

Have you ever had to spend a period out of the water, maybe something came up in your family life or you had an injury? Recently, we welcomed a new baby to the family and leading up to her birth I was busy with preparations and wasn’t able to surf (as much).  It wasn’t a long time per se, but for about a week I was out of the water. As we were being discharged after a smooth birth, I checked the models and there was an amazing swell forecast on tap. My wife graciously told me I needed to go (she’s the best) and so I was on it. But I quickly realized that my arms weren’t up for my normal session. In only that one week, my muscles had lost strength and my paddling power and longevity just wasn’t there. 

I was recently talking with some friends and something came up. They said that they didn’t feel like their Sundays were going deep enough, that they were not getting “enough” from a 40 minute sermon on Sunday. It got me thinking about the parallels here. 

I’ve heard it said that Faith is a Muscle. If we believe that to be true and the only time we are ‘working out’ our faith muscle is for 40 minutes on Sunday, leaving it dormant for the following week, how can we really expect to keep our faith in shape? If we do not put in the work and keep our “faith muscles” strong throughout the week by praying, studying, and meditating on God’s word, then our “faith muscles” will begin to atrophy. We can quickly find ourselves distant from the Lord and walking a path that leads us to sin. 

“How can a young person stay on the path of purity? By living according to Your word.” Psalms 119:9

In just one week, my arm strength and paddle muscles that have been developed over years and years of surfing began to wane. Think about how quickly that happened and how easily it can happen in our faith walk. Let’s remind ourselves to work those Faith Muscles every day!

Image by Leason Dancaescu