I Wish I Was Better At Stuff

Alex Rodriguez is a rich man. He's paid millions of dollars a year to play a game, he is handsome (or so I'm told), and from the time he was a teenager, he was told he was a great ballplayer. He's a member of the greatest team in American pro sports, and he's always been mentioned in the same sentence as the greatest that have ever played baseball.

Now we know that just because he was good, even great, he wasn't satisfied. He wanted to be better. Not that bad of a thing; there's a certain wisdom to being a good steward of your life and wanting to make the most of every ounce of talent, energy, experience and opportunity you have. It's not wrong to want to be better than you are.

But it's wrong to take that desire to be the best you can be and use it as an excuse to do what is wrong. I don't care if it wasn't against the rules of baseball - I'm pretty sure that murder is not forbidden by name in the Baseball rule book - it was against the law, it was against common sense, and it was wrong. Getting help, be it from coaches, trainers, nutritionists, counselors or any other legitimate source, makes sense, but shooting 'unknown' substances into your butt cheeks is dumb, and if he did know what it was (that's my guess), then he knew it was wrong.

I want to be better at stuff in my life. I want to be a better husband, a better father, a better pastor, a better friend. I want to follow Jesus more closely, to pray more and more effectively, to serve with what I have in the best way I can. Nothing wrong with trying to get better - I read books, I use Internet resources, I listen to sermons, I go to conferences, I get coaching, I get advice - but I reach the place where it feels like I can go further, faster, get stronger and better sooner, if I'll just cut a corner here, or skip a step there. Everyone who wants to succeed at what God has given them to do will feel that tug once in a while, if not more often.

Here's what I know - God has given me more than I can do on my own. It puts me in the position to need other people, and it reminds me that I need God. I can't do this on my own. I can't do it without the great people God has put in the Body of Christ around me, with their gifts and talents that compliment and sharpen my own. And I can't do it without regular 'injections' of Jesus in my life. I have nothing without Him, and nothing I do will matter without His power at work in my life. There are more opportunities than I can accomplish, more people to share Christ with than I can talk to, more to do that I have time, energy or talent to match. So I don't do steroids any more (chemo joke!), but I do have to make sure to take the time to connect to Jesus every day and hear from Him in His Word. I need to ask for the strength and energy to do what I can do through Him, and the wisdom to know where the boundaries are.

Pray for A-Rod, he needs Jesus. Pray for me, because I do, too.