10 Practices to Grow Your Christlikeness Muscles

Last week in my post, Life is Like Yasso 800s, I made several comparisons between the hard work of doing speedwork in training for a race and the Christian journey toward strength and confidence of faith. I shared the many ways Yasso 800s helped me to grow stronger mentally, physically, and come to find out, spiritually too. How these lovely repeats pushed my mental and physical limits. They reminded me what strong feels like. Most importantly, Yasso 800s enhanced my soul’s ability to understand that if I want to be strong in my faith, I need to be committed to stepping in to spiritual disciplines and practices that require repetitive endurance--believing that what I put in now will directly correlate with the end results of my life.

During the days that have followed that post, I have been trying to frame in my mind some specific practices of the Christian’s calling that build the muscles of faith, belief and Christlikeness. I am sure that collectively we could make an exhaustive list, but perhaps these 10 are a good place to start. ​

1. Choosing to overlook offenses, more often than not. “A person's wisdom yields patience; it is to one's glory to overlook an offense” (Proverbs 19:11).
2. Allowing mercy to triumph over judgment, more often than not. “. . . Mercy triumphs over judgment” (James 2:13).
3. Committing to frequent and regular reading of the Scripture with a heart tender toward allowing the Word to penetrate and instruct mind and soul. “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting” (Psalm 139:23-24).
4. Choosing prayer in all circumstances, not as a last resort but a first reaction. “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18).
5. Shutting down negative self-talk with truths and promises from God’s words in the Bible. “We tear down arguments, and every presumption set up against the knowledge of God; and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ” (2 Corinthians 10:5).
6. Engaging in the battle of your mind and soul by seeking victory over passivity through putting on the full armor of God. “Be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. . .” (Ephesians 6:10-18).
7. Choosing forgiveness again, and again and again. “Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “‘Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother or sister who sins against me? Up to seven times?’” Jesus answered, “‘I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times’” (Matthew 18:21-22).
8. Stopping despair, lack of hope, or complaining by reminding your soul to turn your eyes away from the present and up to praise the Lord. “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God” (Psalm 43:5).
9. Speaking words of instruction with humility, gentleness and patience. “Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near” (Philippians 4:5).
10. Using every conversational opportunity to encourage and build others up. “Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen” (Ephesians 4:29). ​

That is quite the list, right?
Maybe it even looks too hard to try. But no good training plan designed to grow endurance or muscles would be built on backing away from workouts or mileage that is beyond what may look attainable at the start.

When a runner starts into her training plan she knows she will only do a couple of really hard workouts a week. Not all the muscle building or endurance gains are built in a day, a week or even a month. In fact, most plans span 12-18 weeks. And this is for someone who is already running. Many coaches recommend that a new runner spend a year just getting mileage in before committing to a training plan for a marathon.

So to with training for living in Christlikeness. Tackling all the practices that grow strength and endurance in Christlikeness at one time will most likely lead to injury, burn out or defeat. Yet, having no plan will likely land you out of shape and wimpy in faith-strength. Somewhere in the middle of trying to tackle them all and not tackling any lies a plan for gradual and intentional growth. Gradual and intentional being key. ​

Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to google, “Christlikeness strength and endurance training plan” and find a slough of plans to choose from? Wouldn’t it be nice if there was an app tailored to coach us to grow strong in the Lord and the power of his might (Ephesians 6:10)?

But there isn’t. There are thousands of running and strength training plans out there, but google won’t be too helpful in finding you the plan your soul needs. ​

​But that doesn’t mean there isn’t one. The training plan for your soul’s growth is found in the Bible, through instruction from the Holy Spirit, and among the body of Christ. And here are the coolest parts about it: ​

• There is one taylor made for you. 
• You can know it. 
• You can write it down. 
• You can daily work toward it.​

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But how? ​

By taking the time to make your own list of 10 Practices to Grow Your ChristLikeness Muscles. Yours may look a lot like mine or it might look totally different because the muscles that are weak in my mind, heart and soul may not be the ones that are weak in yours. In addition, God has designed you to grow strong and impact others in different ways than he asks me to. We are all on the same team but we each have unique roles and assignments that require differentiated training.

I challenge you to take some time this week and write out 5-10 practices you will intentionally and repeatedly work on in the coming weeks and months. I pray that your commitment and intentionally will produce obvious growth and strength that propels you to love God and others deeper and that your soul will feel and know the strength of the Lord designed to give you the power to live like Christ.  ​