“If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind.” — James 1:5-6
We All Struggle
A struggle can mean many things depending on the sport. In baseball you could be slumping, like Jose Ramirez did for the Indians in the playoffs. In basketball you can get cold, throwing up a bunch of bricks and having an off night. It happens; even the superstar athletes go through this. Ramirez hit .270 with 39 home runs this year and was an All-Star, but even someone with that much talent can struggle.
This past week, I struggled with my faith. It was not my best week handling my emotions and letting things get in the way of what truly matters. I lost perspective. This happens to all believers. But how do we handle it?
Sometimes we ignore our struggles because we do not want to bring them to God. Or maybe we punish ourselves because we think we deserve it for messing up. The only thing accomplished in these moments is Satan enjoying a victory. We are not perfect but we have a perfect Savior — who willingly laid down His life for us so that we could have forgiveness of those sins and a relationship with God.
What an amazing gift that relationship is, but we often replace God with ourselves. We can fix it. We’ll handle it, make it better. It’s not important enough for God to deal with.
No, brothers and sisters, He wants us to come to Him. He is the source of wisdom and nothing is too big or small for Him. He loves us.
— Reid Carper
If you would like to submit a reader devotional, please email all submissions to jason@sportsspectrum.com.
