Clear Eyes Again
Scotty Smith once prayed, "Heavenly Father, nothing is more daily and revealing than our words; the conversations we carry on in our minds, and the communications we share with our lips. We don't want to contradict our love for you by a graceless use of our words. We want our hearts to be SO full of your loving-kindness today, it'll be difficult to waste our words on self-deprecation or self-exaltation." Wow.
”It'll be difficult to waste our words on self-deprecation or self-exaltation.”
Man, guys. Are our hearts so blasted by the gospel that we despair to either think too low or too high of ourselves? Are we finding it as difficult to be anxious about our illness as we do to boast about our fitness? I hope so. But the battle is fierce and daily. The goal of PrayFit is to help us all see both our sickness and our ability through the same gospel; to realize that either state is a chance to reveal the glory of His grace. After all, our healthiest moment may come on our sickest day.
John Piper once asked, "Is the glory of God the brightest treasure on the horizon of your future?" What a perfect question for us. Whether you're a fitness-minded believer trying to either gain perspective, battle through illness, engage with an invisible disability or just lose a few inches, this is the question we need to ask ourselves.
If the answer is yes, it throttles us, does it not? It controls the desire, tempers the enthusiasm, or it ignites a passion to honor God with better choices of food and fitness.
The glory of God - like an unexpected reflection of the sun - blinds us, forcing us to shut our eyes, turn our heads and wait for our vision to adjust.
Whether you’re about to train or enjoy your morning coffee, PrayFit (God-willing) provides that period of time of necessary adjustment.
Blink, blink, blink, blink. Ok, bursts gone, shadows removed. Clear eyes again. May the light of His glory and grace make it difficult for us to see ourselves as anything more or less than what we are.
- Jimmy Peña
For Discussion: Are you a fitness-minded believer? What is your testimony in one sentence? Do you battle illness? Are you a “faith and fitness” advocate? Did your fitness fail you or did you fail it? Let me know in the comments section. I’m taking a poll.