One Christmas in my teens, I asked for so much large, expensive workout equipment that my parents just got me a gym membership. One difference between your garage and the gym is that someone else may be on the machine you want to use, forcing you to wait, skip it, or…ask to work in. Now, working in can be intimidating. It requires speaking to someone – no easy task when everyone has earbuds in blaring music. You’ll need to adjust the machine to accommodate each other. You have to move with some haste. But to keep growing stronger, you learn to work with others.
Exercising our faith in Jesus is the same. He commands His followers to serve and love one another, even calling it our defining characteristic (cf. Jn. 13:14-15, 34-35). The Apostle Paul said we have the mind of Christ when each looks “not only to his own interests but also to the interests of others” (Phil. 2:4-5 ESV). I personally lack the imagination to do that effectively on my own. Getting stronger requires that I learn how to work with others.
Sure, we do some things privately. While hypocrites prayed publicly for attention, Jesus taught His disciples to “go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matt. 6:6 ESV). Yet, our growth will quickly reach its limits if we only pray privately. We’ll never have experiences like the disciples who, “when they had prayed, the place in which they were gathered together was shaken, and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and continued to speak the word of God with boldness” (Acts 4:31).
Such shared experiences are powerful, like when Peter, James, and John went to pray with Jesus on the mountain. There, “the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white” (Lk 9:29). Proximity to Jesus easily exposed their comparative weakness, as they first fell asleep and then woke to say something stupid (cf. Lk. 9:32-33). Yet, the experience stayed with them: “we were eyewitnesses of his majesty,” Peter recalled years later (2 Pet. 1:16). To give such experiences, Jesus had to let them see Him sweat: “And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground” (Lk. 22:44). He was fully exposed – but they learned something crucial in the process (cf. Jn. 19:23-27).
We often miss out on that opportunity. If we can do what we want, when we want, on our own…we will. Yet, there’s a lot to be gained by working in. Sure, your weakness might be exposed. They might see you sweat. But just by learning to work with others, you will grow stronger.