Stretching

“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 NIV)

It’s been five months since my knee replacement surgery and what my physical therapist said to me two weeks after the surgery was spot on: “You will spend the first month recovering from the surgery.  The rest will be spent recovering from years of walking on a bad joint.”  He went on to explain that the surgery had realigned my joint and muscles into the proper position.  The problem, he said, was that my muscles had long been used to firing from their previous position.  I would now have to retrain them to work properly in their new position.  

And over the past several months, I have learned my leg muscles were not going to go quietly into this new and different way of operating. Initially, they complained loudly and often—during and after every rehab session or workout, during short walks, and always, always at night. Slowly, they have begun to come around and get with the program. Yesterday, my wife and I took a five-mile hike and there was barely a complaint.  But one thing that is becoming apparent is the importance of stretching my hamstrings.  They are giving me the most resistance.  This week I figured out they were the source of my discomfort at night.  While the joint pain had subsided, the pain in my thighs had increased. Stretching, I discovered, lessened the discomfort and has allowed me to get better sleep.  However, stretching is also very uncomfortable.  It feels as if the hamstrings are screaming when I do.  

Like our muscles, we don’t like to be stretched.  In this conversation, Jesus is stretching Peter.  I can just imagine the look on Peter’s face when, thinking he had just impressed Jesus with his magnanimity, Jesus raises the bar ten-fold.  But that is what Peter needed.  He needed to be stretched.  And that was the nature of his, as well as the other disciples’, time with Jesus—they were continually be stretched in their faith and in their views of how God works.  And just as with my muscles, they did not accept the changes quietly.  They complained loud and often.  

I think it is our nature to settle into comfort, into the way we are accustomed to living.  When something or someone comes along to challenge our comfort, we often are unhappy about it.  The reality is, however, for the follower of Jesus, this is the nature of life with Him.  From the moment we make the decision that He will be Lord of our lives, we are in a realigned position, far different than where we’ve been previously.  He must train us how to live from that new position.  And much of that will involve being stretched.  He will ask us to think and to act in ways very foreign to us, such as loving our enemies (Luke 6:35), being just as concerned about others as we are ourselves (Philippians 2:3-4) and forgiving those who repeatedly wrong us.  It will not be easy, but the more we allow Him to stretch us, the easier it will become and the more natural we will find it.

Today, when the Lord begins to stretch you, don’t resist or complain. Know that it is in your best interests.  Though it may be at times uncomfortable, even painful, know He will use it to develop you into the person He created you to be.

© Jim Musser 2014