"The God Who Runs My Life.."

                                                            “The God Who Runs My Life”

I’m especially excited about the topic for this week. The conversation about God, Religion, and Spirituality is, in my opinion, necessary to have no matter what one’s worldview is. One of the main popular debates is over whether or not God exists. Reasons for my belief in God are not the point of this particular post.  However, just as Pascal suggested in “The Wager”, there is a large amount of pressure associated with having to choose whether or not God exists because of the implications it has about what one is committing or not committing their life to. I’d like to suggest that this pressure doesn’t end once a decision is made in either direction.  One who chooses to believe in God is then signing up , in a sense, to let God run their life (by following a religion) - and there’s definitely pressure when it comes to reconciling what one loves and enjoys with some of the laws of God. The effort to concentrate one’s will to align with their faith was illustrated in the film I watched this week.

 

Chariots of Fire is centered on the journey of a Jewish man named Abrahim, who has an intense passion and strong talent for running, which he succeeds in at his university in Cambridge where he also encounters a bit of anti-Semitic tension. In one talk that he gives to his supporters, he compares faith to running a race as one’s spiritual journey takes energy and concentration of will just like the act of running. One issue with Abrahim’s love for running is that it seems to present potential conflicts with his beliefs. He struggles, first, with the idea of running on the Sabbath, not wanting to dishonor it. Eventually, Abrahim is encouraged by a coach to run for God. Abrahim reveals that to win (the races) is to honor God. In one scene, he tells a loved one who thinks that running is a spiritual distraction that, “I believe God gave me purpose and that He also made me fast” (as in a fast runner). At first, it seems that Abrahim’s primary motives were to win so that he could beat those who he felt were against him and that the aim to bring honor to God was secondary.  Although he experiences many thrilling successes, Abrahim gets to a point where he declares that he can’t make the sacrifice to work by running on the Sabbath. He continues running, but not on the Sabbath. His wins become more meaningful because of his new motivations. His words are recited again: “I believe that God made for a purpose and He also made me fast, and when I run, I feel His pleasure.” By this time, Abrahim still has the will to win, but it is motivated out of wanting to honor God and work in the spirit of excellence as opposed to just beating opponents or bringing glory to his own self.  For him, to let God run his life and therefore guide his motives were freeing, and allowed him to more deeply enjoy running for God.

Many think that religious rules are meaningless and too limiting on freedom. On the surface, rules and freedom don’t seem to coincide, but both religious and not religious people can understand the freeing nature of a lot of rules. Not working on the Sabbath may not be meaningful to a non-Christian; however, even that non-Christian can understand the benefit in cutting back on certain activity so that it doesn’t consume you and so that you can rest. Religion is largely made up of rules, yet the intent is freedom. Spirituality on any level requires some amount of discipline and structure, yet people also seek it for freedom. Some question why people would even adhere to certain religious rules, considering the fact that keeping the rules could be for no reason.

For this reason, it’s interesting to think about the idea that “I am forced to wager, and am not free. I am not released, and am so made that I cannot believe. ..” written in Pascal’s (The Wager)  I believe that Pascal is saying that if he’s got to place a bet on whether or not God exists then it’s hard for him to believe in that kind of God and that he is not free. Those with a spiritual worldview might suggest that the wager is not over whether to choose if God exists or not, but that it is over whether one chooses to live for God or not. The wager changes depending on who’s involved.

(Is the wager that Pascal is referring to limiting or freeing? Is the freedom to choose our belief or disbelief in God important? )

 In the film, Abrahim compared running a race to faith, as mentioned before. 

For those who believe in God (I'm on one of those), "committing yourself to the love of Christ is how you run a straight race," says Abrahim in "Chariots of Fire". A commitment to the love of Christ is an example of how God is the one who runs my life. I'm commanded to love ( there's another rule), but this love enables me to "run the race of life" and I find so much freedom in that. No matter what our worldview is, I think it's so important for all people to keep running towards truth. (Even those who are certain, should have questions.) When are motives are less about just having victory over others or winning just so we can feel good and more about winning for something bigger than ourselves we can experience even more happiness.