Flex Your Muscles

This weekend I was attending a family function and was kindly introduced to an extended member of the family. I had heard of the guy before on different occasions here and there. He's one of those body builder guy's. (I only use that term as an explanation with no negative connotations insinuated whatsoever). You know the one's – the guys that make guys like me, that have lifted more coffee cups than weights, feel inadequate in "manly" standards. That in itself is a topic I could explore for days as I too frequently consider who I am in man's eyes than who I am in my Heavenly Father's. But with that aside, I size up the guy as we exchange mandatory "Nice to meet you"'s. He looks like a nice guy, he's just simply teeming with muscle and mass. I extend my hand to shake his and he, in turn, reaches out for mine. Unconsciously bracing for the handshake of all handshakes, I quickly become bewildered at the outcome. This physical masterpiece of a man grabs my hand and shakes it with all of the brute strength and might of a 10 year–old girl. "What is this?", I thought. "Is that it?" I thought if I were that big and strong, I would surely shake another man's hand with all I've got!

As I chuckled on the inside during the moments that followed, the Lord began to speak to me about it as the afternoon unfolded. He was challenging me to see that I'm often the same way in a spiritual sense. God has given me the incredible strength, power and ability to do amazing things and I simply don't use that power. He says that all that is His is mine. The same glory that raised Jesus from the dead has made me a new creation and resides in me. Spiritually speaking, I'm a mighty man, bulging at every seem with strength and might from the Lord. Or at least, I'm becoming more of one as each day passes and I continue to more spend time in His presence. Just as it's ridiculous for a muscle man to shake hands like a little girl, so it is that I don't walk in the strength of the Lord each day. May I continue to train, to prepare, to build up the strength of my spirit man so that when the time comes for me to flex my spiritual muscle, I let loose with all that I've got.