You get what you pray for

I’m supposed to be healing. A day has not gone by this month that I have not prayed for my shin to make a speedy recovery. But Jesus. He is truly amazing. Because not only is my shin starting to feel better, but that giant case of Pride I ailed from is healing too, through a heavy dose of humility. Tonight I heard one of the more powerful messages I’ve ever gotten as a Christian and I was convicted right there on the spot. Convicted of asking God for more “stuff”. Of believing that I was worthy and deserving of that stuff because I am a “good” person who works hard and prays and is kind to others. “Stuff” including but not limited to the American dream, a charming man to marry, a chance to compete at the Olympics, medals in cross country, enough money to live comfortably, a lake house, a healthy life. The truth is, if I got what I deserved, I wouldn’t be here, I’d be in Hell. The Gospel is not about receiving anything except Grace. It’s about us NOT GETTING what we ACTUALLY deserve for our sins. And this message is not always clearly communicated to the masses. It wasn’t to me until tonight. Because of the mix-up in this message, God is set up for ridicule by non-Christians. And what I learned tonight was that WE are responsible for that. The main reason why people are able to attack our religion is because we do not communicate the significance of what we believe in a way that glorifies God more than it glorifies ourselves. Here is the example that I immediately thought of (although there are many others): professional athletes in post-competition interviews who claim they owe their victory to God. Having just recently watched the Olympics, you probably know what I’m talking about. Dude lines up on the starting line with others. He probably prays as he prepares himself. Maybe he makes the sign of the cross on his chest just before he places his feet in the starting blocks. As he crosses the finish line in first, he throws his arm up at the sky. When he gets asked about his race in an interview. He immediately says something along on the lines of “I owe everything to God” or “I’m just so thankful to God to allow me to be here”. Now hear me out, this is not intended to attack these guys who praise the Lord after they have won a race. While I respect the athletes who make their belief in God public, I just think that there may be more tactful ways to do so. Matthew 7:6 says “Do not cast your pearls before swine.” Admittedly before tonight, I had never heard this verse singled out of the Bible. But it happens in sports all the time. Here we are throwing the Lord’s name around, out of context, and opening him up to ridicule (which you can find on any track and field message board on the internet). It does not honor His power and victory as much as it reveals our pride. It is a common mistake we make as Christians to be quick to speak about God’s glory without first explaining the why: the basic reason that He is magnificent, that we are sinners and thus deserve death. The deed that Jesus did was waaaaaay greater than any Olympic race. But we manage muddle that message in our attempt to glorify Him with OUR pride. Honestly, He does not care who wins a foot race. Nor did he help any one athlete win or lose. And unfortunately, we get so wrapped up sometimes, that we can accidently make it sound this way. Now I’m not saying that God shouldn’t be glorified in everything we do, including sports. He most certainly should. It’s just that now I have realized that pride can be a hindrance to that. And I am hugely guilty. Convicted. Today, I spent 2 hours (and more commonly, I spend 3-4 hours per day) on stuff devoted to building my fitness for running. Partly, because I enjoy exercise, but mainly in hopes that I will reach a certain level of achievement in a sport that will feed my own pride. But how many minutes did I devote to Jesus today, uninterrupted by my pride and asking him for things? Truthfully, not as many. I have trouble coming up with words to describe my shame in this. The worst part is that tomorrow I will probably wake up and do most of the same things over again that I did today. But what I hope is that when I get out of bed and my feet land on the ground and I can walk and breathe and speak, I will praise God for that rather than asking him for more. And that next time I have the opportunity to share the Gospel, that I can get the point across completely on His power alone and without any sense of my own pride. I am supposed to be healing. And while I continue to beg God for it, once again, he comes to my rescue, providing more than I could possibly ever merit, healing my soul.

1 frozen banana

1/4 cup frozen blueberries (we only had this much left, otherwise I would have used 1/2 cup)

2 cups baby spinach

1/4 of an avocado

handful of ice

1 scoop Vega vanilla chai

1 tbsp Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa

1 cup water (didn’t have any almond or soy milk left either)