Meditation for a Prayer Lunch

My son Caleb is now almost ten months old, and it's been an interesting few months. We have discovered that he is allergic to sweet potatoes—not by him developing a rash or some other fairly easy method, but rather through the process of him throwing them up every time he eats them. We decided that after the third time, we wouldn't try it again! We're slow learners at our house.

Now, if you know anything about baby food, you know that sweet potatoes are generally regarded as the safe food, as the first food to try and the one that almost all babies can eat. We never considered the idea that Caleb wouldn't be able to eat sweet potatoes, and we still find it incredibly curious that he can't eat sweet potatoes. But we're not going to keep force feeding the kid sweet potatoes. I don't exactly enjoy cleaning up vomit.

When I think about the Christian life in today's world, this brings an important point to mind. See, we all want to have great spiritual lives. We want to feel like we're alive and dynamic, on fire for Christ. We see the spiritual fire that is lit in another person, and we believe that they have exactly what we need. We want their life, their spirituality, and we think that's the best thing for us.

But it's not. There may be spiritual practices or habits that work for 90% of the world's Christians, but that doesn't mean they have to work for you. Each and every one of us is different, unique, made in the image of God for a relationship with God. God loves each one of us and has given us different gifts. You shouldn't feel pressured to try and copy someone else's spiritual life—what works for them might not work for you. There may be parts and habits and practices that you can copy, but the exact thing can't just be photocopied into your life. Maybe the person I want to be like can sit in silent prayer for an hour every morning. Me? I can't sit still for more than about five minutes before every part of me starts twitching. Silent meditation isn't my thing. But that isn't an excuse not to pray—it simply means that I need to find another way to pray. It means I have to examine how God has blessed me and use that method to let myself be drawn into a relationship with God. It's easy to use our differences as excuses—it can be hard work to find what works. But I promise that the work is rewarding.

My son can't eat sweet potatoes. I'm not going to spend my time and energy cramming sweet potatoes down his throat just because sweet potatoes work for some other kid. In the same way, don't pick up some spiritual practice that you hate just because somebody else says it works for them. Let God help you see what works for you, what types of practices and habits will draw you closer to God. If you notice the way that Jesus approaches people in the New Testament, it's rarely the same from person to person. He honors the differences in us—and knows that we are unique. He is, after all, the one who designed us. Since Jesus can approach us as unique, perhaps we would be wise to let each and every one of us take the time and the energy to develop our own spiritual lives, drawing on Scripture to lead us into a faithful path of discipleship to Jesus Christ our Lord and our God.

Romans 12:4-8

 4-6In this way we are like the various parts of a human body. Each part gets its meaning from the body as a whole, not the other way around. The body we're talking about is Christ's body of chosen people. Each of us finds our meaning and function as a part of his body. But as a chopped-off finger or cut-off toe we wouldn't amount to much, would we? So since we find ourselves fashioned into all these excellently formed and marvelously functioning parts in Christ's body, let's just go ahead and be what we were made to be, without enviously or pridefully comparing ourselves with each other, or trying to be something we aren't.


 6-8If you preach, just preach God's Message, nothing else; if you help, just help, don't take over; if you teach, stick to your teaching; if you give encouraging guidance, be careful that you don't get bossy; if you're put in charge, don't manipulate; if you're called to give aid to people in distress, keep your eyes open and be quick to respond; if you work with the disadvantaged, don't let yourself get irritated with them or depressed by them. Keep a smile on your face.