Inexperienced

As a person who feels like I don't have much experience doing pretty much anything, this quote means something to me. Also, as a person who favors role-playing games over other forms of recreation, it also means something else entirely. In most role-playing games, as a character fights monsters and overcomes challenges, he gains Experience (XP for short). When he has enough XP, he levels up, becoming stronger and more capable in many ways. Thus, a character with a lot of Experience is a powerful character, whereas an inexperienced character is a weak one.

Though our inexperience can cause us to be foolish, ignorant, and weak, God can make up for all of those traits. He can strengthen us, reveal things to us, and guide us down the right paths, and when we follow Him, that's exactly what He does. He makes up for our weaknesses in exactly the moment we need Him to - But what about after that? Will we ever become stronger, or will we keep needing God's help? As I said in a recent blog post, Our Dependence on God, I believe that we will eventually become strong enough, and experienced enough, to handle things on our own. Here's how that works:

Lifting weights makes you stronger, right? Imagine that you're trying to lift a weight that weighs 100 pounds, but you can only lift 75 pounds. Your Personal Trainer comes along and says "Could you use a hand with that?" If we're humble enough to accept His help, he'll exert a certain amount of upward force on the weight at the same time that we do. If He provides zero pounds of upward force, that'll leave the whole 100 pounds for us to lift, and I've already pointed out that we can't lift that much. If He provides 100 pounds of upward force, He'll lift the whole weight by Himself. We know He's strong enough to do that, but that'll leave zero pounds for us to lift, and lifting zero pounds of weight isn't exactly what I'd call exercise.

Rather than lifting all or nothing, our Personal Trainer could lift exactly half of our weight, leaving 50 pounds for us. We can lift that much, and as far as our muscles are concerned, it's counted to us as if we had lifted a 50 pound weight on our own. If our Personal Trainer knows exactly how strong we are (and He does), He could lift just barely enough of the weight to make it possible for us to lift the rest. If He provides 25 pounds of upward force, that'll leave 75 pounds for us to lift. That's our maximum. We can do it, but it'll be difficult for us. Thankfully, difficulty is precisely the point of exercise. As we exert our 75 pounds of force, it's counted to us as if we had lifted a 75 pound weight, and that, of course, makes us stronger. If we do that enough times, we'll eventually have enough strength to lift the whole 100 pounds ourselves, and we can keep increasing in strength from there.

While we currently rely on God for extra strength, that doesn't mean that we're not growing in strength ourselves. He may be lifting a portion of our burdens, but only rarely will He lift the whole weight for us. Most often, He requires us to lift as much weight as we can, whether that's a little or a lot. As we exercise as much strength as we have, we continue to grow in strength, until someday we'll become as strong as He is now. Though we may be inexperienced and weak now, especially compared to God, don't worry about that. Don't worry about how far you have to go to reach your full potential and how long it'll take you to get there. Instead, remember how glorious your full potential is, and keep working your way toward that goal. With time, determination, and a good deal of God's help, you'll get there. You will gain experience.