Praying to the Pinata God

There is a very popular book based on an obscure prayer in Chronicles. The premise is to repeat this prayer and God will bless you and give you what you want.

Given it's popularity, I wonder why there isn't a best seller on Philippians 3.

"But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends on faith— that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead."

And what about Acts 5: 41?

"Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name."

Books like "The Prayer of Minor Biblical Character to be Repeated Until God Gives You What You Want" really bother me sometimes. I get riled up because God is reduced to nothing more than a means to my end. Pastor Taylor, our interim pastor at Grace, once said that God is now a pinata god. He's emptied of all His holiness and substance and reduced to a hollow shell. When we want something, we hit Him and expect good things to fall down on us.

Christianity is not about being happy and fulfilled. Christ did not die so I could live the American dream. Brothers and sisters have not died and are not dying today so they can have their best life now. God is not the big vending machine in the sky, our Heavenly Santa who gives presents to good little kids.

There's a song on Storiez by Shai Linne called Martyrs. You may not like the rap but the song gives accounts of five martyrs, past and present, in their dying moments, faithful to the end for Christ. It's a powerful song because it doesn't sugar coat the suffering that saints have endured for the sake of Christ. But it's also a hard song to listen to in 21st century comfortable America. It's uncomfortable to hear but is the discomfort because it reveals my cowardly heart? My lukewarmness to the Gospel? My love for myself and comfort over love for Christ?

My grandfather was imprisoned during the Cultural Revolution in China. I know someone whose mother was beaten in front of him so he would recant during that same horrible period. His mother told him that it didn't matter what was happening to her but begged her son not to deny Christ. He didn't.

My grandfather survived and lived to be 102. The mother and her son were delivered as well. However, there is a young Chinese girl in Martyrs who was not delivered from her suffering but she was delivered to her heavenly reward.

These saints saw something so wonderful and glorious in Christ that it was worth giving all for His sake. It is well said that they are "of whom the world was not worthy."

No pinata god is worth that.

But Christ is.