How to Build Spiritual Muscle

Isaiah 1:17

Learn to do right; seek justice.

   Defend the oppressed.

Take up the cause of the fatherless;

   plead the case of the widow.

I love the clear and simple directive in this verse. It leaves us without excuse. When we don’t know what to do with our lives or what ways we can worship and please God, it is simple instructions like this that we can get about doing.

Talk is cheap. This is all about action. As it says in 1 John 4:20, “Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. For whoever does not love their brother and sister, whom they have seen, cannot love God, whom they have not seen.”

But all this need and where to start can get overwhelming. So the most encouraging part of this verse for me is where it says “LEARN” to do these things. It takes time. It is a learned skill. Small steps of reaching out and caring. Increasingly bigger risks to love and serve another.

Let’s all build up our spiritual muscles as we work it out in the world. We can start with lighter tasks, and as we build our spiritual muscles, we take on heavier loads of justice in the world with greater strength. Use what is in your hands. Ask the Holy Spirit to show you what small thing you can exercise today.