Last post we talked about one reason God was so responsive to Jesus’ prayers was because he loved God so much. And because he loved God so much, Jesus was always seeking to give Him glory. If you’re interested you can check it out here: The One Thing You Can Do To Give Life To Your Prayers

Well Monday, two days after that post I received a text from my friend Mark. He and another friend Mike host a podcast called Solomon’s Porch Radio. And Mark’s text said,

“Hey Kurt …..let everyone know to be praying for Mike….he had a heart attack. ..and just went in for surgery.”

So I just arrived home from Portland late the night before and I missed that text. But another friend, Luke Salyer, sent me a DM on Twitter about it, so I called Mark and asked him to keep me up to speed on Mike’s condition.

Then Wednesday morning I received another text, and this one was from Mike (via Mark). And this is what it said:

“Back home as of last night. I feel good. Heart doctors said that all of my arteries are really clear, no blockage what so ever from the heart cath procedure. From the echo gram of my heart yesterday results were very good, no indication of anything negative around the heart or the sack that surrounds it. They can only say that the mini heart attack must have been caused by a virus or cold that attacked the heart. I think this: I had bad chest pain from 9:30 am until about 5:00pm. I’ll call it in pain a 7. 10 being the worst. After 5pm it went to a 3 and stayed there until the moment they put me on the operating table at 9:30pm. (Remember, they were going to just give me a stress test the next morning. However, when they saw the results of my 3rd EKG, they called in a team Monday night to perform the heart cath.) Then the surgeons at that point asked me my pain level just before they started the heart cath procedure. I paused to observe the pain and told them at that point that there was no pain at all. They then proceeded with the procedure and was finished in about 20-25 minutes. Not being able to find a single small or any blockage. So I think with a few thousand prayers being prayed over my situation that God did His thing. I’m calling it a miracle. Final report was “arteries in excellent shape and so is the heart”

The End☺“

Notice two parts of that text. One: the doctors said, “…the mini heart attack must have been caused by a virus or cold that attacked the heart.”

And two: Mike said, “So I think with a few thousand prayers being prayed over my situation that God did His thing. I’m calling it a miracle. Final report was ‘arteries in excellent shape and so is the heart.’

“The End”

Some might ask why Mike would say such a thing. After all, the doctors offered a scientific explanation of what could have happened. But in spite of that, Mike gave God the glory.

Here’s what I think about when I hear that question. When Mike does die, as he surely will, as all of us surely will, the moment after, he’ll find himself standing before his Maker. And when he’s standing there, in complete awe of the One who created stars so big they could contain 100 quadrillion earths, when he’s standing there before the One who created one billion galaxies 100,000 light years across, when he’s standing there, trembling, with veneration and fear swirling in his soul like two ingredients in a blender, before the One who created comets, and quarks, and 10 billion trillion stars: When Mike is standing in front of that One, which position does he want to be in? If Mike said it was a miracle from God and it was, of course God will be pleased. If Mike said it was just a virus and it wasn’t, God is forgiving and gracious, but Mike missed an opportunity to glorify God, in the same way Jesus did. (see last post) (10 billion trillion: that’s not a made up number. That really is the estimated number of stars in the universe.)

And if you think it through, even if it was a virus, God created the immune system that defeated the virus anyway. So why not glorify God? Why not express gratitude toward Him, for what He did–however He did it.

If Mike, out of love for his Father in heaven, glorifies God, in the same Spirit that Jesus glorified his Father in heaven, he’s in the best position possible when he’s standing before God that moment after he goes the way of all the earth. And as we already saw in the last post, approaching life with that attitude can only benefit Mike’s prayers too.

Glorifying God, out of love for Him, love for Him with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, as Jesus did, is how I should live. It’s how we all should live our lives.

Glorifying God, maybe you’re ready for me to write about something else. But I found it interesting that Mike’s heart attack, Mike’s healing, and Mike’s assignment of responsibility for that healing to God, all came a few days after our discussion of Jesus giving God glory in the context of prayer.

When Solomon finished praying in 2 Chronicles 7:1, the glory of God filled the temple. When the host of Solomon’s Porch Radio was healed from a heart attack, he gave God the glory.

That’s what Jesus did. That’s what the elders do around God’s throne in heaven. That’s what the angels did at Jesus’ birth.  (John 17:1-2, Revelation 4:10-11, Luke 2:14-20)

You and I will be wise if we do the same.

References:

Bible Gateway

Image via wallsdontlie – Creative Commons