Super (Christian) Man

For by you I can run against a troop, and by my God I can leap over a wall. 2 Samuel 22:30

My wife and I have recently been watching old episodes of one of those survive-in-the-wild reality shows. On this particular season, there’s a contestant who declared himself a Christian from day one. I was, of course, supportive of his declaration of faith. Like everyone else, I admire heroes who represent me. But I cringed when he took an on-air vow before God and man that he was going to do whatever it took to win the $250,000 prize awarded to whoever stayed out in the wilderness the longest. As his cringe-worthy moments regarding his faith piled up, I realized he was no hero and that his only superpower was being super dorky. Perhaps I’m being too hard on him, but anyone watching would see that his faith was more than a little self-serving. He believed God was going to give him supernatural strength to win the competition so that God would be glorified. It just so happened that winning would make him $250,000 richer.

I don’t yet know how the season ends, but I shouldn’t be too hard on him. It’s also my nature to tie my faith to my personal advancement, imagining all I could accomplish if God would just do as I asked.  Passages like today’s reinforce my blatant self-interest. In this excerpt from King David’s song of deliverance, he declared that God would help him run fast and jump high, apparently giving him superpowers. I like this version of faith. I like to think that if I believe in God, he’ll make me physically strong, attractive, and successful. I tell myself it’s in God’s best interest. That guy on the reality show would make his faith look a lot less dorky if he won the $250,000, right? I imagine it would be good PR for God to make all Christians more successful than those who don’t believe.

The problem, of course, is that this isn’t God’s version of faith. Faith is believing in God with my mind while following him with my feet. Faith is seeking his will, not mine. Faith doesn’t mean personal advancement but rather often means personal sacrifice. Yes, I get something out of it, finding true joy, peace, and meaning when I practice faith, but God doesn’t promise that I’ll be made strong, good looking, and rich if I follow him. Those are rewards that I attach to my version of faith, simply because I want them. God though, isn’t a genie in the lamp and he doesn’t give me superpowers to impress the world. God has, however, worked a miracle in me, transforming my life as I’ve abandoned me to follow him. And that has been exactly what I’ve needed.