Chris Bean

As I was sitting in a campus ministry training seminar today with my CCO peers, we were discussing ways in which theology should inform our understanding and application of the Gospel.

Faith & Repentance are the mechanisms by which we grow. Our guest speaker, David Kim from Gotham Fellowship in New York City (out of Redeemer Presbyterian Church w/ Tim Keller) pointed out that sanctification is the process by which we become more like Christ.

For some reason, images of Tony Horton and flashbacks of P90X workouts popped into my head. Tony calls it “muscle confusion.” That’s why those P90X workouts have so much variety and a 90-day rotation system. To make a muscle grow, you must force it to encounter resistance and in every-increasing doses. In addition to that, varying your routine keeps the muscle from becoming comfortable with a particular movement which results in a plateau.

This can certainly happen within the context of our sanctification and spiritual growth. Unless we are continually coming to a place of faith & repentance, the stream of our spiritual life becomes stagnant. Stagnant water stinks. There’s no flow…direction…energy.

Just a couple of evenings ago, I set aside some time for prayer and repentance. Over the past few months, for a variety of reasons, my sense of God’s presence and my own willingness to engage the Scriptures and prayer had become quite weak. This very lesson was being spoken to me by the Spirit and thankfully I responded (this time). The extent to which that time of prayer on Sunday evening restored my soul and transformed my mind continues to surprise me. In describing the experience to a friend, I likened it to the feeling of responding to God at a Thursday night youth camp service…when you walk away from a time of prayer and repentance feeling about 50 lbs lighter!

In order to continue a trajectory of spiritual growth…we must continually engage our faith muscles and do the heavy lifting of repentance.