“Poor Tomato. He wishes he could sing strong and sweet like the cucumber; but he can’t! He can’t even whistle!”
Have you ever felt like you wanted to become a better person, but simply couldn’t? Have you ever wanted to accomplish something big, and then realized that you didn’t have the resources to make it happen?
Have you ever gone so far as to say to yourself “I probably shouldn’t even try this”?
If this has happened to you (as it’s happened to me numerous times) you may feel like giving up on everything, and Netflix binging until you feel better about life in general.
That doesn’t work. But I can tell you what does work: looking to something stronger than yourself.
Last night, I was bemoaning my inability to lose weight and get in shape. My metabolism is such that it’s extremely difficult for me to drop pounds, and I have to literally starve myself to lose weight. I said “It’s too bad God can’t diet and exercise for me.”
And then I got to thinking about it, as I usually do.
No, God cannot diet for me. But God can give me the self-control necessary. He cannot lift weights for me, but He can give me the mental strength to push myself and become better.
And so when I think of self-improvement, I understand that there needs to be a replacement- a shift in my mental process. I need to be in a constant state of yielding to God’s strength in my life. Not using my strength, but His. And I’m still learning and practicing how to do this.
By “strength” I mean of course the mental strength to accomplish my goals. And as a side note that I wrote about recently, God is not obligated to help you accomplish goals that He didn’t give you to do in the first place. So just because you don’t have the willpower to do something doesn’t mean God will always give it to you if you ask. First and foremost, check your motives.
But for me, I know getting in shape is something God wants me to do; to be in good health, and to be able to take care of my family. It doesn’t honor God to let myself, His creation, to go to pot.
Some preachers will say that it doesn’t honor God when believers are weak, and that we should always be strong as a testimony to God. But it depends on where your strength comes from. Pretending you’re strong doesn’t make you strong, any more than strutting around like a bodybuilder doesn’t give you giant muscles.
For you to have true Godly strength, it will require you to put time in at “the gym,” a.k.a. in prayer, in His presence, yielding to Him, letting go of your strength so He can fill you with His strength.
This takes discipline, patience, and submitting to God’s authority. In essence, Jesus described what we must do:
“If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross daily and follow Me.”
– Luke 9:23
And Paul, arguably one of the most powerful Christians that ever lived, penned these bright, shiny words of encouragement (emphasis mine):
Because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, for this reason, to keep me from exalting myself, there was given me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me—to keep me from exalting myself! Concerning this I implored the Lord three times that it might leave me. And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.
– 2 Corinthians 12:7-10
Simply put, I want to sing strong and sweet like the cucumber, but I can’t.
But God can.