“So then, just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in him, rooted and built up in him, strengthened in the faith as you were taught, and overflowing with thankfulness” (Colossians 2:6,7).

Even if you’re not a weight lifter, you probably know that muscles grow and get stronger only after a workout, when they’re resting and recovering. I didn’t really understand this as a kid. When you lift heavy things, the force of the effort causes micro tears in the muscles. Once you stop lifting, your body repairs those micro tears with stronger tissue. Thus, you get stronger when you’re at rest, not really when you’re lifting weights.

This is a pretty accurate parallel as Paul encourages us to be “strengthened in the faith as you were taught.” I’m not sure what you’re going through now—job loss, sickness, mourning a death, stress, anxiety, or just feeling overwhelmed with life. What I do know is that these burdens don’t make faith stronger. Trials in life are the things that tear us apart. Your faith, on the other hand, grows stronger when you find rest and rejuvenation in God’s Word. It’s here that the Holy Spirit mends us together, builds us up with his promises, and prepares our hearts and minds to face whatever challenges the world may throw at us.