Spiritual Over Training

"Tony, you're overtraining. You need to stop pushing so hard."

Those were the words the physical therapist said to me a couple of weeks ago. I was whining to her about the constant ache in my shoulder and the frustrating lack of progress I had made since having rotator cuff surgery.

Her words floored me. How could I be doing too much??! Everything I read about therapy warned of the danger of not stretching or exercising enough. Stories abound of people who have permanently lost mobility in their joints because they weren't diligent in doing the necessary work to regain full function. There's no way I was going to let that happen to me! I'm giving this therapy thing all I've got, and then some. No pain, no gain! I launched into my recovery like Rocky Balboa preparing for a prize fight.

My therapist proceeded to inform me of what I didn't know. Pushing too hard through therapy can actually be as detrimental to healing and growth as doing too little. Rather than ramping up my recovery, my overly aggressive regimen had actually begun to impede it. Stretching and working my shoulder too frequently and too intensely, had left the joint tissues inflamed and the muscles without adequate time to recover and grow stronger. Forcing my progress was actually setting it back.

In Galatians 6:9 we read, "And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart."

As Christians, we know we are supposed to overcome. We know we are supposed to be becoming more like Jesus Christ. And if His Spirit is in us, that desire to be like Him is burning in our hearts and minds. We desperately want to do good. We desperately want to be better servants for Him.

But the reality is, for most of us, our progress just isn't as fast or as satisfying as we'd like. When the weakness and sins we believe we have overcome reappear; when old carnal attitudes and thoughts re-enter, it's easy to lose heart. It's easy for our hearts and minds to become inflamed with frustration and discouragement. Our overly aggressive self-condemnation can cause us to overlook and under appreciate the areas of our lives where we are reaping, those areas where God has grown and changed us. By forcing unrealistic expectations on the pace of our spiritual growth, we can actually set it back.

Hebrews 12:1 tells us to "...lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith..."

In I Peter 5:6 we are exhorted to "...humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you."

How do we not grow weary, frustrated and discouraged in our Christian walk?

Well, to echo the words of my physical therapist,"Stop overtraining. Stop trying so hard."

Not that we should stop doing or stop trying altogether, but that we should lay aside some of the spiritual weight we are attempting to carry around on our own. If frustration and discouragement are overtaking us spiritually, maybe we need to step back and evaluate how much we are trying and striving and becoming frustrated in our own effort versus humbling and submitting ourselves to letting God work in us. Maybe we need to take some time to reflect on and appreciate the areas where He is giving us victory.

It is God who is the Author and Finisher of our faith. He knows our weaknesses. He knows our faults. He knows the things we need and when we need them, in order to change and grow. If we are submitting to Him, if our hearts and minds are passionate about Him and His way, we can cast our cares on Him and be confident that He will finish the work that He started within us.