Hurts So Good

“And being in anguish, he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground.” Luke 22:44

A while back we were spending time with a friend who was describing her workout routine. She told us that she knew the exact point up to which she would stop working out to avoid sweating. We still laugh about that today but in reality, I sometimes wonder if I do the same thing with my faith. In Philippians 2:12 we are instructed to ‘work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.’ A huge component of salvation is our faith which we are to continuously work on…exercise…develop. So, do we do the same thing as my friend did in her work out? Do we know the exact point of pursuing deeper faith where it doesn’t hurt or inconvenience us?

We need to have faith that sweats just like Christ had that night in the garden. Scripture records that His anguish was so intense that His sweat came out of his pores as blood. Jesus didn’t have this convenient or painless faith, and neither will we. What kind of sweat does our faith produce? Do we sing praises right up to the point until God seems to allow hardship to enter our lives? Do we serve others right up to the point of it disrupting our calendars? Do we tithe right up to the point of it becoming financially uncomfortable? Do we keep His commands until it doesn't support a decision? We want a testimony of our own without the test…working out right up to the point of sweat.

What choices would we make that would significantly work out our salvation? What would it look like for our faith to sweat? It looks like encouraging others when our hearts are depleted. It looks like serving someone less fortunate when no one is looking. It means getting in the Word and allowing it to get in us. It means exuding God’s joy even when we feel demolished. Finally, it means lifting others up when we are falling down. The only way we can produce sweat in our faith workout is by depending on the same Source Jesus depended on…His Father. God will supply every thing needed in our faith workout, and the sweat of our choices will be life-giving to those around us. It will be a workout that hurts so good!