We have a prayer time in our youth group. Bearing in mind that most of our current members are unchurched, this is as much about helping them become comfortable with the whole concept of prayer as about bringing specific needs to God. Sometimes only one or two out of a dozen kids will pray. But they all have needs they're willing to share. This always amazes me: I don't remember having nearly as many fears and anxieties when I was their age.
One thing I notice is that they, and many other people, make prayer much more difficult than it needs to be. Prayer doesn't need to be expressed in lofty, formal language. There are no special phrases you have to use, there are no 'magic words' that grab God's attention. Prayer is just conversation with a friend.
And that brings up the issue of relationship to Him.
The older I get, the more I'm convinced that relationship is everything. Ministry isn't about theology or organizational structure or being theatrical, it's about connecting with people. Stepping outside yourself far enough to meet them where they are.
"... anyone who comes to Him must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who earnestly seek Him." (Hebrews 11:6)
Relationship with God is about connecting with Him where He is. The beauty of this is that the Lord made the first move. He came to us in human flesh. He took the trouble to identify with us in our neediness. And He made the greatest overture of freindshp possible by dying the death we deserved on the cross and then rising from the dead in conquest of the most fearsome thing in our experience.
All right, at first it is a bit like having an imaginary friend. You feel a little foolish, talking to someone you can't see. But it's not all that strange. Here I am, writing to you, and I have no idea who you are or when you'll see this or if you'll respond. It's an exercise in faith and hope. Any conversation is, really.
The God of whom the Bible speaks wants to be your friend. He wants to be part of your everyday life. He wants you to just talk to Him, tell Him what's on your mind. Are you fearful or anxious? Are you happy? Are you confused? Have you accomplished something important? Are you feeling overwhelmed? Do you have hopes and dreams you're not sure how to realize? Have you been hurt or rejected? It can be difficult to find a human person who'll listen to these things and understand. But the Lord is always there and ready to hear.
And He doesn't just listen. He acts. He leads us and shapes us in the very act of prayer. Just developing the habit of taking everything we think and feel to Him is a transforming thing.
Don't worry too much about how you pray. Just do it. Do it often.
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
Prayer List
The more I think about prayer in this column, the more I come to believe that we need to take it beyond the level of theology. It should be helpful to explore the whys and hows of prayer, but the best way to learn to pray successfully is to do it.
So, what I'm thinking is that I'll open this page up for you to share your needs. An on-line prayer list. And not just the needs., but also the answers when they come, so that everyone's faith can benefit.
Email me at: r_moulton76@yahoo.com with anything you'd like to share and I'll post it.
Please: first names only and only as much detail as we need to pray for a specific need. No personal details that can put someone's privacy in jeopardy.
Just to give you an idea of the content, I'll post the first few...
Jon -- suffering from Lyme disease for 15 years
Bill -- needs a new kidney
Kathy -- recovering from a bad stroke
Carl -- recovering from multiple strokes
Dave -- nerve disorder from chemical exposure during military service
The Election -- give us the government we need and wisdom to the winning candidates
The government -- wisdom to lead us, to make righteous decisions and laws
Iraq and Afghanistan -- peace, stable democratic governments
Our service men and women -- safety, success in establishing liberty, bring them home
So, what I'm thinking is that I'll open this page up for you to share your needs. An on-line prayer list. And not just the needs., but also the answers when they come, so that everyone's faith can benefit.
Email me at: r_moulton76@yahoo.com with anything you'd like to share and I'll post it.
Please: first names only and only as much detail as we need to pray for a specific need. No personal details that can put someone's privacy in jeopardy.
Just to give you an idea of the content, I'll post the first few...
Jon -- suffering from Lyme disease for 15 years
Bill -- needs a new kidney
Kathy -- recovering from a bad stroke
Carl -- recovering from multiple strokes
Dave -- nerve disorder from chemical exposure during military service
The Election -- give us the government we need and wisdom to the winning candidates
The government -- wisdom to lead us, to make righteous decisions and laws
Iraq and Afghanistan -- peace, stable democratic governments
Our service men and women -- safety, success in establishing liberty, bring them home
Monday, October 13, 2008
Knock 3x
Okay, sorry. The reference to the old Tony Orlando song came into my brain without warning. It seemed somehow appropriate.
The third and greatest barrier that we have to get through in order to receive what we ask for and seek in prayer is probably ourselves. We are often our own worst enemies.
The epistle of James says that the primary reason we don't have what we need is because we don't ask. Covered that. Then it says that, when we DO ask, we ask for the wrong reasons. We ask to satisfy our own selfish deisres.
This is where a lot of people run into problems. They pray for something they really want. Something they've even convinced themselves they need. And God doesn't come through. Or He takes too long. And, if their prayers aren't answered, well, prayer doesn't work. The next step is usually: there's no one out there listening. God doesn't exist. And they abandon faith entirely.
This whole line of thought is based on a faulty assumption: that prayer is some kind of 'magical' thing by which I get God to give me what I want. Prayer is a way to manipulate God.
That's not Christianity, its shamanism. It's absurd to think that we can make God do what we want. If any one of us could, that would make us the god(s). It's role reversal and it doesn't work.
But if prayer is about relationship, the whole focus changes. Yes, we can ask for what we want, but we should not be surprised if our Father shakes His (figurative) head and says no. No more candy. Spinach is what you need and you're not getting up from the table until you eat it.
The objective in prayer is rather to discover what God wants for us and to ask for that. Just like the child who'd rather have chocolate than spinach, we don't at first want to ask for it, much less ask for a second helping. But somewhere along the line, the child grows up. He has to pay his own dental bills and the gym fees to burn off all those candy calories. He discovers why his father limited the sweets. And if, in the process of growing up he has also matured in character, he opts for the veggies instead of dessert.
In discovering what God wants for us we learn His values. We discover Him as a person. And we become more like Him. And we see our desires from His much wider perspective.
Jesus said that if anyone wanted to follow Him, he should deny himself, take up his cross and (actively) follow. We balk at the denial part (and never get to the cross), especially if our experience of the church is one of rules and regulations governing all the things Christians aren't supposed to do. I've been there. But I've come to believe that the whole self-denial thing is less about some rule that says, 'No, I can't have that.' and more about exchanging an infantile set of desires for adult ones. And it's about learning to trust that God knows what I need and won't forget me.
Knocking on the barrier of self-centeredness is one of the most difficult things believers have to do. Sometimes, with persistent temptations and desires, only the brute force approach works; all you can do is 'Just say no' to yourself. Some people never get past that. But whenever we do get past ourselves in prayer, whole new vistas are open to us. We begin to think as God thinks. We begin to love what He loves.
And when you and God are on the same wavelength, miraculous things happen.
The third and greatest barrier that we have to get through in order to receive what we ask for and seek in prayer is probably ourselves. We are often our own worst enemies.
The epistle of James says that the primary reason we don't have what we need is because we don't ask. Covered that. Then it says that, when we DO ask, we ask for the wrong reasons. We ask to satisfy our own selfish deisres.
This is where a lot of people run into problems. They pray for something they really want. Something they've even convinced themselves they need. And God doesn't come through. Or He takes too long. And, if their prayers aren't answered, well, prayer doesn't work. The next step is usually: there's no one out there listening. God doesn't exist. And they abandon faith entirely.
This whole line of thought is based on a faulty assumption: that prayer is some kind of 'magical' thing by which I get God to give me what I want. Prayer is a way to manipulate God.
That's not Christianity, its shamanism. It's absurd to think that we can make God do what we want. If any one of us could, that would make us the god(s). It's role reversal and it doesn't work.
But if prayer is about relationship, the whole focus changes. Yes, we can ask for what we want, but we should not be surprised if our Father shakes His (figurative) head and says no. No more candy. Spinach is what you need and you're not getting up from the table until you eat it.
The objective in prayer is rather to discover what God wants for us and to ask for that. Just like the child who'd rather have chocolate than spinach, we don't at first want to ask for it, much less ask for a second helping. But somewhere along the line, the child grows up. He has to pay his own dental bills and the gym fees to burn off all those candy calories. He discovers why his father limited the sweets. And if, in the process of growing up he has also matured in character, he opts for the veggies instead of dessert.
In discovering what God wants for us we learn His values. We discover Him as a person. And we become more like Him. And we see our desires from His much wider perspective.
Jesus said that if anyone wanted to follow Him, he should deny himself, take up his cross and (actively) follow. We balk at the denial part (and never get to the cross), especially if our experience of the church is one of rules and regulations governing all the things Christians aren't supposed to do. I've been there. But I've come to believe that the whole self-denial thing is less about some rule that says, 'No, I can't have that.' and more about exchanging an infantile set of desires for adult ones. And it's about learning to trust that God knows what I need and won't forget me.
Knocking on the barrier of self-centeredness is one of the most difficult things believers have to do. Sometimes, with persistent temptations and desires, only the brute force approach works; all you can do is 'Just say no' to yourself. Some people never get past that. But whenever we do get past ourselves in prayer, whole new vistas are open to us. We begin to think as God thinks. We begin to love what He loves.
And when you and God are on the same wavelength, miraculous things happen.
Knock, Knock
Still talking about Matthew 7:7 and the need sometimes to 'knock' when we pray.
Last time, I said there were at least 3 types of barriers that can prevent us from receiving what we're asking for and seeking. And I said that sometimes that barrier can be people outside the church.
There is a fairly vocal group of people who oppose what evangelical Christians believe and stand for. Some of them are liberal 'Christians' who more properly fall into the group we discussed last time. It's not, however, that they don't know what their spiritual gifts are or fail to exercise them, but rather that they have a completely different idea of what the gospel is. Hence the quotes around the word Christian. They are part of the overall church as an organization, but they seem to have missed the point. Then there are others who oppose us because they are of different faiths. Or no faith at all, as we understand it.
But, here in America, most of our opposition doesn't seem to be conscious or intentional. It comes from people who are ignorant of the gospel. People who are ambivalent about it. People who are distracted by life and never seem to consider the deeper questions because they are so involved in other things. It is passive opposition, but a barrier nonetheless.
This opposition exists in part because of our failure to evangelize effectively. But before we share our faith, there must come prayer. Prayer that comes from a deep longing for others to know Christ and the peace and empowerment of His grace. How many of us feel that longing? How many of us lose sleep over friends and family who don't believe? Are our lives so cluttered with our own desires and comforts that we hardly think of them? I believe they are. It's a battle I fight every day.
At the risk of sounding archaic, there are spiritual forces at work behind the scenes. Forces that distract us from prayer and witness. Forces that draw attention away from Christ when He is presented. Forces that make people think they're too busy to have time for God. Forces that draw people into other, cultic religious beliefs. Forces that provide the distractions. They are forces of culture, of attitudes. But overall, I don't know what to call them except demonic.
We have, I believe, the power to knock on that door, to batter down that barrier. To battle against the 'spiritual powers in high places' that deter us from a single focus on Christ. To combat the forces that prevent others from really hearing the gospel and responding to it. We have that power and privilege in prayer. And if we do not do so, if we focus on the obvious and selfish, we have missed something important that may be hampering our own spirtual growth and effectiveness.
You might think that battling things -- forces, beings, attitudes -- we can't see is more properly God's job rather than ours. But believers have been called and chosen and sanctified to be a part of what He is doing. God can surely do everything Himself, but He doesn't want to. He wants us to participate. What parent doesn't love it when a child works alongside him or her, learning to do what the parent does? God loves it too. That's why He created us in His image and made us His children.
I firmly believe that in Christ, we have the power to command these spiritual forces, to break their hold on others and remove the opposition. Destroy the barrier. Try it. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised and enormously blessed.
Last time, I said there were at least 3 types of barriers that can prevent us from receiving what we're asking for and seeking. And I said that sometimes that barrier can be people outside the church.
There is a fairly vocal group of people who oppose what evangelical Christians believe and stand for. Some of them are liberal 'Christians' who more properly fall into the group we discussed last time. It's not, however, that they don't know what their spiritual gifts are or fail to exercise them, but rather that they have a completely different idea of what the gospel is. Hence the quotes around the word Christian. They are part of the overall church as an organization, but they seem to have missed the point. Then there are others who oppose us because they are of different faiths. Or no faith at all, as we understand it.
But, here in America, most of our opposition doesn't seem to be conscious or intentional. It comes from people who are ignorant of the gospel. People who are ambivalent about it. People who are distracted by life and never seem to consider the deeper questions because they are so involved in other things. It is passive opposition, but a barrier nonetheless.
This opposition exists in part because of our failure to evangelize effectively. But before we share our faith, there must come prayer. Prayer that comes from a deep longing for others to know Christ and the peace and empowerment of His grace. How many of us feel that longing? How many of us lose sleep over friends and family who don't believe? Are our lives so cluttered with our own desires and comforts that we hardly think of them? I believe they are. It's a battle I fight every day.
At the risk of sounding archaic, there are spiritual forces at work behind the scenes. Forces that distract us from prayer and witness. Forces that draw attention away from Christ when He is presented. Forces that make people think they're too busy to have time for God. Forces that draw people into other, cultic religious beliefs. Forces that provide the distractions. They are forces of culture, of attitudes. But overall, I don't know what to call them except demonic.
We have, I believe, the power to knock on that door, to batter down that barrier. To battle against the 'spiritual powers in high places' that deter us from a single focus on Christ. To combat the forces that prevent others from really hearing the gospel and responding to it. We have that power and privilege in prayer. And if we do not do so, if we focus on the obvious and selfish, we have missed something important that may be hampering our own spirtual growth and effectiveness.
You might think that battling things -- forces, beings, attitudes -- we can't see is more properly God's job rather than ours. But believers have been called and chosen and sanctified to be a part of what He is doing. God can surely do everything Himself, but He doesn't want to. He wants us to participate. What parent doesn't love it when a child works alongside him or her, learning to do what the parent does? God loves it too. That's why He created us in His image and made us His children.
I firmly believe that in Christ, we have the power to command these spiritual forces, to break their hold on others and remove the opposition. Destroy the barrier. Try it. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised and enormously blessed.
Knocking
After a (too) long hiatus, let's return to the subject of prayer.
In Matthew 7:7, Jesus tells us to ask (and keep on asking), to seek (and keep on seeking) and to knock -- and keep on knocking. The use of 3 different verbs here is intriguing. It tells us something about the nature of prayer.
Asking is the most passive part of prayer. It is conversational: 'Father, I need..." This is the most common type of praying. It requires the least investment of time and effort. As noted before, we are conditioned to think that we should only have to ask for something once. We are actually annoyed if we have to ask again. Just think of how you feel if you get a new cashier at your favorite fast food restaurant and he/she has trouble getting your order right.
Seems to me that, if we ask God repeatedly for something and don't get it, that ought to a clue that there is something missing in our prayers. By definition, it can't be that there is something missing in God, although that's the conclusion too many people come to when the Lord doesn't respond immediately. Maybe it should tell us that it's time to move on to the next level and seek whatever's missing.
When we seek, we can sometimes come up against a barrier. A closed door. Then it's time to start knocking. If we keep on banging on the door, Jesus says it WILL be opened for us.
There are at least 3 kinds of barriers.
First, there is the barrier of other people. People outside the church may put up opposition to our receiving what we need from God. More on that later. The fact is, this type of barrier seems to be most common with people IN the church.
The church is supposed to be a community of people who support and encourage one another. A community of individuals, each equipped by the Holy Spirit with gifts which, exercised in concert, make the church a complete, fully functional, effective body -- the Body of Christ. But for various reasons, too many people don't know what their gifts are or don't exercise them. They have something from God that they don't share with the rest of us. This cripples the whole body.
If we are up against this barrier and knocking, the first thing we need to do is ask the Lord to enlighten. Ask Him to show them their gifts and their place in the scheme of the Body We also need to ask Him to motivate them. The greatest blessings of my life have not come from sitting by and passively receiving things from God, but through the privilege of exercising my gifts and serving the Lord and His church. Using our gifts isn't just work. It isn't a distraction from personal things that are more important. It is fulfillment. It is finding what we were born for and doing it.
Then we need to seek this enlightenment and motivation. We do this, not in prayer per se, but by becoming involved with our brothers and sisters. By helping them discover their gifts and encouraging them to use them. Our actions can be prayers too.
There's more to say, but I'll let you chew on this for a bit and save it for next time. As always, your comments are more than appreciated.
In Matthew 7:7, Jesus tells us to ask (and keep on asking), to seek (and keep on seeking) and to knock -- and keep on knocking. The use of 3 different verbs here is intriguing. It tells us something about the nature of prayer.
Asking is the most passive part of prayer. It is conversational: 'Father, I need..." This is the most common type of praying. It requires the least investment of time and effort. As noted before, we are conditioned to think that we should only have to ask for something once. We are actually annoyed if we have to ask again. Just think of how you feel if you get a new cashier at your favorite fast food restaurant and he/she has trouble getting your order right.
Seems to me that, if we ask God repeatedly for something and don't get it, that ought to a clue that there is something missing in our prayers. By definition, it can't be that there is something missing in God, although that's the conclusion too many people come to when the Lord doesn't respond immediately. Maybe it should tell us that it's time to move on to the next level and seek whatever's missing.
When we seek, we can sometimes come up against a barrier. A closed door. Then it's time to start knocking. If we keep on banging on the door, Jesus says it WILL be opened for us.
There are at least 3 kinds of barriers.
First, there is the barrier of other people. People outside the church may put up opposition to our receiving what we need from God. More on that later. The fact is, this type of barrier seems to be most common with people IN the church.
The church is supposed to be a community of people who support and encourage one another. A community of individuals, each equipped by the Holy Spirit with gifts which, exercised in concert, make the church a complete, fully functional, effective body -- the Body of Christ. But for various reasons, too many people don't know what their gifts are or don't exercise them. They have something from God that they don't share with the rest of us. This cripples the whole body.
If we are up against this barrier and knocking, the first thing we need to do is ask the Lord to enlighten. Ask Him to show them their gifts and their place in the scheme of the Body We also need to ask Him to motivate them. The greatest blessings of my life have not come from sitting by and passively receiving things from God, but through the privilege of exercising my gifts and serving the Lord and His church. Using our gifts isn't just work. It isn't a distraction from personal things that are more important. It is fulfillment. It is finding what we were born for and doing it.
Then we need to seek this enlightenment and motivation. We do this, not in prayer per se, but by becoming involved with our brothers and sisters. By helping them discover their gifts and encouraging them to use them. Our actions can be prayers too.
There's more to say, but I'll let you chew on this for a bit and save it for next time. As always, your comments are more than appreciated.
AWOL
Sorry to have been absent for so long. Things have been busy and, somehow, I misplaced my login. But now, I'm baaaack...
Off the general topic of prayer that I was following initially, an interesting thing happened in church yesterday. My 4-year old grandson (step-grandson, technically, but I never think of him that way) was in church for the 2nd time. The children sit thru the first part of the service until the children's sermon and then are dismissed down to the vestry of Sunday School.
We've been tinkering with the amount of time they spend upstairs in the main service. The object is to keep families together as much as possible and to expose the kids to corporate worship without overloading them with things they don't understand. It can be a delicate balance. Yesterday, the kids sat through the collect, the first hymn and our monthly praise and worship segment before being dismissed.
A note about Praise and Worship as we currently do it. We add this segment on the second Sunday of each month and I lead it, with my wife when she's not working and with other musicians when they're available. It's a 3-song set and two of the songs are contemporary, but I try to incorporate one older worship song or hymn that our congregation (aging, as are most rural Methodist congregations) is more likely to be familiar with.
Anyway, yesterday, my grandson and his parents came to the house after church. He and I played for a while, but after he'd expended some energy, we were sitting in the living room and he said something about the music he'd heard in church. He wanted to hear one of the songs again. Being new to church and only 4, he of course didn't know the name of the song, so my daughter and I sang our way thru all 4 that he had heard.
I expected that he would have liked either of the contemporary songs: 'Shout to the Lord' or 'Above All'. Nope. He wanted to hear the hymn, 'Draw Me Nearer'. We sang the first verse for him 3x accapela, then I pulled out my guitar and the lyrics and sang it all the way thru.
Okay, that was long-winded. But it told me something and reinforced my thinking on some others.
The first thing it told me was that you can't predict what will appeal or speak to the people in the congregation -- especially little kids. As a worship leader, I try to do that. I try to pick songs that are likely to communicate and involve my audience in support of the overall thrust of a particular service. I try to pick songs that will reinforce each other relative to a certain theme. I have no idea what it was about that hymn that captured his attention over the other songs. I doubt that he understood the words so it was probably something about the meter or the tune. Whatever. It's something he'll remember. It's an avenue for the Spirit into his young life. Praise God!
It also reemphasized to me the role of music in worship. I've always appreciated it, having been a Christian musician since I was in high school. Music -- especially music that we sing together -- has a power to convey ideas, concepts and emotion that the spoken word often does not. And now I find that music -- even the 'old stuff' -- speaks even to little children.
So, here's what I want to say...
If you're a Christian musician, don't be afraid to be a little eclectic, to maybe go outside your comfort zone as far as the type and style of music you play. You'll be a better musician for broadening your scope and only God knows who will be touched by it.
If you're a parent or a grandparent, sing with your kids. Even if you don't have much musical talent. At the very least, get some CDs of Christian music and play them in the quieter times. (And don't be afraid to sing along even if you can't carry a tune in a dump truck.) It's a very special and blessed experience when one of those songs takes root in the mind of a child.
Blessings, brothers and sisters.
Off the general topic of prayer that I was following initially, an interesting thing happened in church yesterday. My 4-year old grandson (step-grandson, technically, but I never think of him that way) was in church for the 2nd time. The children sit thru the first part of the service until the children's sermon and then are dismissed down to the vestry of Sunday School.
We've been tinkering with the amount of time they spend upstairs in the main service. The object is to keep families together as much as possible and to expose the kids to corporate worship without overloading them with things they don't understand. It can be a delicate balance. Yesterday, the kids sat through the collect, the first hymn and our monthly praise and worship segment before being dismissed.
A note about Praise and Worship as we currently do it. We add this segment on the second Sunday of each month and I lead it, with my wife when she's not working and with other musicians when they're available. It's a 3-song set and two of the songs are contemporary, but I try to incorporate one older worship song or hymn that our congregation (aging, as are most rural Methodist congregations) is more likely to be familiar with.
Anyway, yesterday, my grandson and his parents came to the house after church. He and I played for a while, but after he'd expended some energy, we were sitting in the living room and he said something about the music he'd heard in church. He wanted to hear one of the songs again. Being new to church and only 4, he of course didn't know the name of the song, so my daughter and I sang our way thru all 4 that he had heard.
I expected that he would have liked either of the contemporary songs: 'Shout to the Lord' or 'Above All'. Nope. He wanted to hear the hymn, 'Draw Me Nearer'. We sang the first verse for him 3x accapela, then I pulled out my guitar and the lyrics and sang it all the way thru.
Okay, that was long-winded. But it told me something and reinforced my thinking on some others.
The first thing it told me was that you can't predict what will appeal or speak to the people in the congregation -- especially little kids. As a worship leader, I try to do that. I try to pick songs that are likely to communicate and involve my audience in support of the overall thrust of a particular service. I try to pick songs that will reinforce each other relative to a certain theme. I have no idea what it was about that hymn that captured his attention over the other songs. I doubt that he understood the words so it was probably something about the meter or the tune. Whatever. It's something he'll remember. It's an avenue for the Spirit into his young life. Praise God!
It also reemphasized to me the role of music in worship. I've always appreciated it, having been a Christian musician since I was in high school. Music -- especially music that we sing together -- has a power to convey ideas, concepts and emotion that the spoken word often does not. And now I find that music -- even the 'old stuff' -- speaks even to little children.
So, here's what I want to say...
If you're a Christian musician, don't be afraid to be a little eclectic, to maybe go outside your comfort zone as far as the type and style of music you play. You'll be a better musician for broadening your scope and only God knows who will be touched by it.
If you're a parent or a grandparent, sing with your kids. Even if you don't have much musical talent. At the very least, get some CDs of Christian music and play them in the quieter times. (And don't be afraid to sing along even if you can't carry a tune in a dump truck.) It's a very special and blessed experience when one of those songs takes root in the mind of a child.
Blessings, brothers and sisters.
Friday, March 30, 2007
Focus
I’M LOOKING AT WHAT I WROTE LAST TIME. About seeking. And it occurs to me – not for the first time – that I’m not very good at taking my own advice.
I look at what I spend my time seeking…
-- a better income (I’m self-employed).
-- entertainment (I love movies and there are several TV shows I hate to miss).
-- sexual gratification. Let’s be honest. We are bombarded with sexual imagery even if we don’t go looking for it. I’m happily and faithfully married, but I seem to have the same drives I had when I was 16.
-- Things: like a new car, better computers (they’re tools of the trade, after all). I can hardly go through my email without seeing two or three things I wish I could afford. Then, I’m a musician of sorts, so there’s always some new instrument or piece of gear I wish I had. Being a homeowner provides a whole list of Things I’d like to acquire. The list seems endless.
-- Spiritual Things: these are easier to excuse. I’d like my son and my best friend to be healed. I’d like to see something dramatic in the way of revival for our youth group and our church. I’d like to have more impact for my ministry efforts. I’d like to have more of the gifts of the Spirit. But it’s all still ‘stuff’, even if it is stuff from God.
It’s amazing how much time and energy seeking these things requires. It’s amazing how easily any one of them can distract me from what’s really important. It’s sad – pathetic, even – how little time there is left to seek the Lord Himself.
I suspect I’m not very different from anyone else. There are so many things to desire that our focus is split. Shattered is more like it.
Matthew 6:22 is one of those verses that I think has more impact and relevance in the King James.
“The light of the body is the eye: if therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light.”
Both the NIV and NASB translate ‘single’ as ‘good’ and that makes sense in modern English. If your eyes are good, you can see where you’re going.
But the KJV gives it a somewhat different meaning. If your eye is ‘single’ doesn’t have to do with being physically one-eyed, but rather, with being focused. Compare this with what the writer of Hebrews says in 12:2 –
“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith…”
As Christians, nothing less than Jesus Himself is our objective. If we allow ourselves to be distracted, if we take our eyes off the goal even for a second, we falter. I falter.
This is, I think, not only my problem, but the general problem of the entire Church in the post-Christian West. We have a sort of spiritual ADD where we are constantly being pulled this way and that. We want God, but we also want what everyone else has, what our society with its massive culture of consumerism tells us we can’t live without.
My prayer, first of all for myself, and then for all of you, my brothers and sisters, is that we will take steps to develop a ‘single eye’, a focus on Jesus Christ that cannot be broken.
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