Growing Through Resistance

Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is preached; and in this I rejoice, yes, and will rejoice. Therefore if there is any consolation in Christ, if any comfort of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and mercy, fulfill my joy by being like-minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of one mind. Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself. Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

Philippians 1:18-2:4

You grow most yourself by helping others grow.

We cannot grow without change. The best way to change is not by myopically focusing on what might be wrong with us, but by setting our attention on others. As we make the decision to work through the resistance to keep our attention on our own desires (James 1:13-17), we position ourselves to be ready to grow. Often the best way to take care of ourselves and grow is to care for the interests of others. The best way to serve the interest of others is to preach Christ by word and deed-His consolation, His love, His fellowship and His mercy.

Resistance is an opportunity to grow.

As we grow, we will find how much more we have to still grow. Much of the resistance to continue growing comes from laziness and selfishness. We may think that we have done so much work growing that we deserve a rest and we move from laziness to selfishness. As our efforts to continue growing wane, we can become more proud of how much we have grown and ignorant about how much more we could grow if we decided to put forth the effort. We can get used to the resistance. If we have stopped growing, we may begin to ignore the call to push on through the resistance; if we are continually growing, we may become used to the work of growth and again move into a sense of complacency.

If you're not moving, there's no resistance.

One of the greatest signs that we are moving and growing is that there is resistance to our growth. It is easy to be led into the illusionary utopia that wrongly asserts that if we find a sweet spot, there will be no resistance to us being who we want to be, but such is not the case in our cosmic system. Movement without friction is fiction; friction without movement is also fiction. When we are moving forward and growing, we will experience friction and resistance. The more we grow, the more resistance we will face. However as we grow, we will also get used to the resistance and be emboldened to overcome the resistance to growth.

There's a root for every resistance.

Many times, we can overcome our resistance by understanding why it exists. By determining the root for our resistance, we minimize the fear of the resistance. Once we remove the fear of the unknown root of the resistance, we are able to face the resistance by uncovering the root of the resistance. As we keep moving forward in growth, we will find new varieties of resistance, but we can use those new occurrences of resistance to fuel our determination to continue growing. And as we continue to grow, we will find ourselves becoming more selfless. When we look to the interests of others, we become fully alive, doing what all living things do—grow.