Triceps Death

 One of the things I enjoy most about exercising, more specifically weightlifting, is to push your body and mind further than you thought possible. Some years ago, I was working my triceps. Those are the muscles in the back part of your arm. I came up with a series of three exercises I would do back to back to back without any breaks between. Those exercises were brutal. I named it triceps death. 

Over the years I introduced triceps death to my sons, their friends, and workout partners. This morning we introduced it to the TCA powerlifting team. I could not keep from chuckling as lifter after lifter failed in their attempts to complete the workout. 

That has me thinking about something much more serious than a workout routine. I am thinking about mental toughness as an approach to life. Especially in our Christian walk.  Life hits hard. It will knock you off your feet. Disease, death, and divorce hit with lethal force taking the wind out of the sails for many. The pain is excruciating. The sorrow is overwhelming. The mind kicks in during such times convincing us we cannot make it through the trial. People give up and give in. They crumble. They lose the will to fight. They struggle to battle through the hardships.

What hope can we find from God's word? The Bible has much to say about perseverance and our thoughts. Read the following. 

James 1:2-4 (NASB)
²  Consider it all joy, my brethren, when you encounter various trials,
³  knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.
⁴  And let endurance have its perfect result, so that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.

 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 (NASB)

³  For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh,
⁴  for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but divinely powerful for the destruction of fortresses.
⁵  We are destroying speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God, and we are taking every thought captive to the obedience of Christ,

Philippians 4:8-9 (NASB)
⁸  Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.

Faith produces endurance when it is tested. We are to take every thought obedient to Christ. We are to dwell on things that are honorable, right, pure, lovely and excellent. 

Paul knew about mental toughness. Being persecuted constantly. Constantly in danger on ever side. He faced more adversity than many people do. How did he handle it? He endured with joy. In Phil 4:9  Paul writes, 

⁹  The things you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you. 

Read what he wrote. He exhorted people to practice what they learned, received, and heard from Paul. One of those things was mental toughness. He just did not give up. He pressed on through many afflictions. He stayed the course when it would have much easier to give up. 

    The God of peace will be with you. The God of tranquility of the mind and heart. The God of calmness in the middle of the chaos of life. He offers comfort, peace, strength, endurance, and hope to make it through the trials. With God, we can make it through more than we think we can. We can overcome obstacles. We can prevail through adversity. We can survive the storms. We can triumph over the trials. It may not be pleasant. In fact, it may be very painful. Thoughts of giving up may lodge in our mind. We can train our minds not to lose heart. Triceps death is just a lesson in mental toughness. So is pressing through the tough times in life. Each test will strengthen our faith and produce perseverance. With God's help, we can make it through much more than we think we can.