From my post at the front desk of our local YMCA, I notice a lot of interesting slogans on T-shirts as members scan in to work out. Recently a man came through wearing a T-shirt, the arms of which were cut off to make room for some massive biceps, declaring his mantra as a weightlifter: “Stronger than Yesterday.”
Knowing his workout pattern, I readily understood what that declaration was all about. His discipline of regular circuits, man-handling the weight plates, has prepared his muscles well. I am not sure how much he lifts on the benchpress but it is obviously an ever-increasing amount.
Tony Tench
Yes, he is, sure enough, “stronger than yesterday.”
As the morning went along, I could not help thinking about that T-shirt’s message.
On the one hand it exclaims a testimony of past accomplishment — “The weight I’ve lifted in the past equates to greater strength in the present.”
On the other hand, the words represent a hope for the future — “Yesterday was tough, but today I will be stronger.”
And, perhaps, “stronger than yesterday” represents a prayer — “I just can’t, Lord. Please help me be stronger than yesterday.”
It’s much like one of the prayers of the early church dating back to the fourth century, Kyrie eleison. This prayer, in Latin, serves as an anchor to all our praying. Translated “Lord have mercy,” the church has been praying this prayer in worship for many a century as if to ask the Lord to make us “stronger than yesterday.”
And God promises to answer this prayer. The Psalmist made sure to underline the promise singing, “God is our refuge and strength an ever-present help in trouble.”
Moses sang it too: “The Lord is my strength and my defense.”
Gideon heard the promise: “Go in the strength you have.”
“The church has been praying this prayer in worship for many a century as if to ask the Lord to make us ‘stronger than yesterday.’”
Nehemiah rallied around it: “This day is holy to our Lord. Do not grieve, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.”
David prayed believing the promise: “But you, Lord, do not be far from me. You are my strength; come quickly to help me.”
Isaiah was convinced of it: “Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, ‘Be strong, do not fear; your God will come.’”
Paul founded his life and ministry on the promise: “For the foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength.”
Yes, we can count on God for strength. God has promised it. But let’s not forget the “heavy lifting” that is ours to do — the disciplines that make us Christ’s presence in a world that is struggling. A world that is also hoping to be “stronger than yesterday.”
It is not too late to pull ourselves together and set our sights on a day we long to see where the strength of the Lord rules the day. As German theologian Jürgen Moltmann wrote in his autobiography, “Whether we are young in years or are growing older, we are always standing on the threshold of our possibilities.”
When we are discouraged by the weight of the world’s struggles, heartbroken by the griefs we have to bear, distracted by the disappointments against which we press, dispirited by the burn in our relationship muscles, when more reps of non-conversations about how to exist together in 21st-century America leave us panting for relief — let us pray the “stronger than yesterday” prayer asking the Lord to spot us as we train with his vision for life together.
Tony Tench works with the Lakelands Region YMCA of South Carolina and is former pastor of First Baptist Church of Shelby, N.C., and interim pastor of Poplar Springs Baptist Church in Shelby. He and his wife, Janet, enjoy living near their daughter’s family and serving with them at NewSpring Church in Greenwood, S.C.