Prayer
Changes Us
Colossians
1:9-10
My Scottish cousin,
Ann, sends me some great emails, mostly amusing stuff she forwards from friends
who have sent them to her. Occasionally
she sends something serious. If you were
at Graceland Christian Church last Sunday (May 13, Mother’s Day) you heard the
one I shared with the congregation about God’s creation of women. In return I send her my blog posting each
week. I’m not sure it’s an even
trade. What I get from her is much more
interesting than my blogs. Still, she likes
to read what I write, and no writer wants to diminish the size of his audience.
In response to one of my recent posts on prayer, Ann
asked a question that pushed my thinking in a new direction.
“Do you ever wonder if we prayed more we might be more
aware of others’ needs, be less sick, and have more patience with the world? Could it also make us more considerate of
others, and less greedy, too?”
Wow! That’s a lot
to ask from prayer. But if we’re ever going
to change the world several things are clear—at least to me.
First, the world isn’t going to change unless humanity
changes. Human nature has remained
relatively stable—and unfortunately very unstable—for
thousands of years. I don’t believe
we’re any worse than our ancestors. We
just hear about peoples’ problems much more thoroughly and quickly. On the other hand, we’ve certainly not gotten
any better.
Second, we can’t change other people. As much as we’d like to make them different,
we have no power to do so. We can only
change ourselves. I change the world
around me by making a difference in myself.
I can pray for other people to change—and I do so every day. But I have no power to make them change. That ball is in God’s court, not mine. One thing I do know: when I become a different person—more
tolerant, more loving, more patient, more considerate—the people around me
change as well. As my friend Mike Brower
says, “Funny thing about that!”
Third, the world does
need to change. We can’t go on forever
hating each other, hurting each other, killing each other—all over differences
of opinion. I believe God wants to see
us work for unity in the church, compassion in government, and humility in our
relations with other people. I realize these
are not popular positions. Instead, we
want to defend our version of religious truth to the death—even if it’s ours. We want our government to look out for us but
not for those we deem unworthy. If I’m
humble, other people walk all over me.
I’m not going to give someone else the upper hand in any relationship,
personal or professional.
“When we ask God to do something for us, He generally wants to do something in us.”
I’ve used this quote before. I don’t know who said it, but I know it’s the
truth. God wants to make me a different
person, so maybe—just maybe—I can be
of use in bringing about some small change in the world. That’s what I hear Paul saying to the
Colossian Christians. He says he prays
for them, “asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of [God’s] will in
all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the
Lord, fully pleasing to him, bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in
the knowledge of God.”
That’s a lot to ask for.
We know Paul asks this for others because he first asked for it to
happen in himself.
It
may not change the world, Ann, but it’s a start.
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