Blessed are those who dwell in your house
They are ever praising you
Blessed are those whose strength is in You
Whose hearts are set on our God

We will go from strength to strength
Until we see you face to face

That last line struck me when I realized I wasn’t sure what I was singing. What does “strength to strength” mean? I began searching my handy ESV study bible and found that the lyrics to this song are taken from Psalm 84, which is about the people of Israel going to the temple to worship the Lord. You should really read the whole thing for yourself, but the key verses are four through seven:

Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise! Selah
Blessed are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion.
As they go through the Valley of Baca they make it a place of springs; the early rain also covers it with pools.
They go from strength to strength; each one appears before God in Zion.

As the Israelites are on this journey to the temple, the Lord gives them more and more strength so they can come and worship him. I wanted to see where else this kind of language showed up in Scripture, so I followed the cross references to 2 Corinthians 3:18:

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

I’ll be honest, at first I didn’t really see the connection, but both of these passages are about the process of coming to Christ. We don’t just get transformed once in our lives, but we are “being transformed” while we see the glory of the Lord. Through our lives, as we look to Jesus, we start to look more and more like him in increasing degrees of glory. Being a Christian is not just about saying a prayer once, but about becoming more like Jesus. Yes, we need to come to Christ and be forgiven of our sins once and for all, but the process of living out our new lives takes, well, a lifetime.

The Israelites couldn’t store up enough strength for the trip to Jerusalem before they left; they needed to keep getting renewed along the way. In the same way, we cannot try to live the Christian life on “stored strength”, but on the ever increasing strength that Christ provides along the way. So if you’re feeling weak or like the journey is just too hard, look to Jesus. Someday we will worship Him face to face, but until then let Him transform you and He will give you strength upon strength to keep going.

Thought (Philippians 4:8; Titus 1:15; 2 Corinthians 10:5)

Heart (Proverbs 4:23; Luke 6:45; Matthew 9:4)

Body (2 Timothy 2:22; 1 Thessalonians 4:3,7; 1 Corinthians 6:13; 6:18-20; Galatians 5:24; Romans 13:14)

Actions (2 Corinthians 10:31; 1 Timothy 4:12; Colossians 3:17)

Speech (Ephesians 4:29; Ephesians 5:4; Matthew 12:36-37)

Sight (Matthew 5:27-28; Matthew 6:22; Job 31:1)

“…it really resonated with where I’m at right now in my life.”

“…a definite yes to coming next year.”

“I would definitely come again next year.  I could see this conference growing and becoming something that God will use in the lives of many men to spur them on to something greater than themselves.”

“This event has changed my life for Christ.  I am on fire to know him more and this event really got it going for me.”

“I thought all of the speakers did an amazing job, and I also really enjoyed the music parts of the program as well!”

“I needed to hear a straight forward message that did not sugar-coat anything.”

“The highlights for me were getting to know some of the guys from my church more… it really resonated with where I’m at right now in my life.”

“I enjoyed getting to know other men from my church that I otherwise wouldn’t have.  The worship was great and the speakers had awesome
messages.”

“Extremely relevant. I do not think the speakers could have done anything better. Each speaker presented their topic well, and each topic was right on target for the men in our culture.”

We’re looking forward to Fight Club 2011!!