OK, this is the beginning of the re-compilation of my grey matter after having thoroughly filled every cell with fresh new information from the Forge “Dangerous Stories 2″ National Summit. It was an awesome time to hear some collossal concepts, and to break down some crazy ideas. Loved it, and thought that the scene was set for the entire conference by Mike Frost’s initial “plenary”.
Mike spoke about the temptation of Christ, (I’m pretty sure he was using Matthew 4). He highlighted that the temptation the devil threw at him was ultimately relatively harmless. There’s nothing inherently wrong in turning the stones into bread, but the point was that Jesus was deliberately choosing to deny himself. Frost spoke about the need for self-denial, not as self-flagellation, not because the thing you’re going without is inherently bad, but because you recognise the value of choosing to go without things; a concept that I’m pretty sure Mike delved into in “Exiles”.
Because choosing to go without, builds “spiritual muscle”. It turns the “dirt” of the missionary into “soil”. While Mike then went on to talk about the other two temptations, and a few other things around this passage, it was this idea that struck with me. Obviously it’s kind of nice that I’m in the middle of Lent-ing, so that made me feel like I’m choosing some of that. But more than that: it becomes about integrity – sticking to your choices and being honest with yourself about how you’re tracking with exercises like this. So, to pose a question for you: what are you doing to build “spiritual muscle” in your life?