Yesterday I said “Sometimes miracles will happen through mundane steps.”

Notice I didn’t say because of mundane steps. In the story of Naaman, there is no formula. No one else ever, as far as we read, is healed from skin disease by dipping themselves in the Jordan. Instead, the healing happened when Naaman did what Elisha said to do.

That happens around here, of course. The treatment plan is to exercise. To adjust our eating just a little. In the emergency room, I often hear physicians talking with patients in the middle of heart attacks.  “Do you smoke?” Yes. “Well, you are stopping today.”

And sometimes there is more willingness to have the stent than to stop smoking.

With his second chance, Naaman planned to live differently. He planned to worship differently. He planned to follow the God of Israel all the way back to Aram. He took some dirt with him, so he would have what he thought was holy land.

It was, for him, a reminder of what God had done.

Paul was talking about second chances, too.

We have God with us, in us, granting us forgiveness, giving us relationship with God. What are we going to do with that second chance at life?

The first thing he says is this: Don’t turn your life into a spiritual competition.

Don’t get excited when other people seem to mess up. If we ever say, “Well, at least I don’t do that,” we’re not walking with the Spirit. If we ever say, “They’ll get theirs in the end,” we’re not walking with the Spirit.

And don’t get discouraged when other people seem to get all the spiritual attention.

“They have a perfect life, I have pain. God must hate me,” isn’t walking with the Spirit.

“Their mom was healed, mine died. God must hate me,” is following some bad teaching someone gave you.

I’m sorry for the bad teaching. God doesn’t hate you. Neither do I. And fortunately, we’re not in a spiritual competition. We’re in a spiritual community. Or we can be. I want to live as if that’s true.

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More on Thursday.