If you think you are strong, you should be careful not to fall. The only temptation that has come to you is that which everyone has. But you can trust God, who will not permit you to be tempted more than you can stand. But when you are tempted, He will also give you a way to escape so that you will be able to stand it. (1 Corinthians 10:12-13)

Ponder It.

What are your experiences with weight-training?

What has been your belief about how God is involved with your burdens?

How do you know exactly what your limit of lifting or carrying burdens is?

Receive It.

When you begin weight training, you don’t begin with the heaviest weight you can lift. It’s more important to lift a weight you’re comfortable with, a weight you feel working your muscles as well as that you can lift repeatedly. Ten repetitions of a ten pound weight are better for your muscles than one lift of a 100-pound weight. Even Olympic weight lifters don’t train under their maximum weights. They train for their maximum weights. In order to get strong, you have to condition your muscles to gradually develop strength.

We assume the adage that God doesn’t give us more than we can bear, and we can become complacent and not train. After all, if God won’t give us more than we can bear, He knows whether or not we’ve been training and, therefore, what we can handle at any given time, so why should we push our limits? But God doesn’t give us the weight. The verse we often misquote about God not giving us more than we can bear, 1 Corinthians 10:13, refers to the tipping point of temptations. God doesn’t tempt us. And He knows what we can bear. But the reality is what He knows you can bear and how your spiritual muscles will respond to the weight He knows you can bear can be two very different limits if you’re not weight training. I might have the potential to lift 200 pounds, but if I’m not lifting smaller weights on a regular basis, 200 pounds is going to seem overwhelming to me very quickly. It might never be easy for me to bear the weight, but I can make it a little easier, or a little harder, by whether or not I regularly work out. What are you doing to prepare and train today?

Live It.

Pick up a couple cans of vegetables and do a little weight-training. Don’t overdo it, but make sure you complete several sets of repetitions. You’ll probably only be lifting one-pound weights, but one pound is better than no pounds. Yet fifteen pounds isn’t necessarily better than one pound. Weight training requires discipline and small steps in growth. Take your time. Actually, yield to God’s time.