Jude 1: 20b — Choices

… by building yourselves up in your most holy faith…

As people we have choices in life. As Christians, we have choices to make, too. One of those choices is whether we choose to build ourselves up in holy faith.

This past year I suffered an injury to my shoulder. I chose to wait and see if it would get better by itself. It didn’t. Instead of getting better, I learned to adapt or guard the injury. When I finally saw the doctor a few months later, he confirmed that the injury was severe enough to have limited the motion in my arm. He referred me to a physical therapist. I now had another choice to make: live with the pain or deal with therapy. Eventually, I chose therapy.

The goal of therapy in my situation was twofold: Restore flexibility to the joint and build up the strength in my arm. I have learned a lot during this process.

One thing I learned is how many muscle groups are connected to the shoulder. The body is amazing and complex. I expected the muscles in the arm to be affected. I had no idea that muscles in the side, back, chest, and neck would also be affected.

I learned that part of the ‘building up’ process was breaking down the bonds that had been formed when I chose not to use my arm after the injury. Layers of muscles that had not used became locked together. To restore full function the therapist uses massage to break loose these connections and allow the muscles to work as they were intended.

I also learned that this process needs to be done slowly and cautiously. My therapists are very good. They do not want to cause more harm. Every step is slow and gentle. This includes the exercise part of building up muscles that have been overworked or underused. In the beginning, it was enough of a goal to move the arm and shoulder. Over the weeks of therapy, they added small weights to the stretching. As strength returned, more weight was added.

I share this story because there are some similarities to building ourselves up in faith.

Sometimes, to build ourselves up in faith, we have to acknowledge past injuries. If you harbor past hurts from a church experience you are not alone. If you are confused about faith issues, you are not alone in that either. The people who have the most difficult time growing in their faith are the ones who are the most certain that they are already all grown up.

The test of being “all grown up” in faith is that faith works. It is strong enough to guide you and carry you through. As Paul writes in Galatians 5: 22-23, the fruit of a grownup faith is, “…love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” If we have not perfected each trait on this checklist, then we still have room to grow.

If we are not all grown up yet (and I don’t know anybody who is) then our work of building up our faith also includes letting go of the things that don’t work. I measure beliefs against what the Bible says. Not one or two verses taken out of context, but the whole Bible. Sometimes I find that something I have believed all my life is challenged by God’s Word. Then I have to massage my thinking to break loose the old so that I can grow in my faith.

Application: Consciously choose to abide by God’s Word.

Food for Thought: What do you find builds up your faith?