“You are lucky to have me on your team” prayers

Approaching God on our own terms, means to present a laundry list of good deeds, worthy accomplishments and stellar performances, as the backdrop to our prayers.  Such a prayer is akin to an athlete telling the press that his or her team is lucky to have such a tremendous star in their midst. 

Now, most of us don’t generally think of our own prayer life as being anything like the “you are lucky to have me on your team” prayers; and neither did the Pharisee in Luke 18:9-17.  This man dutifully stood by himself praying.  His opening line resembles a praise psalm, “God, thank you.” But the next two verses present a very distorted prayer of praise, indeed.  Praise Psalms are characterized by ascribing gratitude and praise to God, who is at the center of the praise.  In the case of the Pharisee, however, he mentions the first person singular pronoun five times in two short verses.  In his prayer, he is at the center of his praise.  His prayer could be paraphrased as, “God, you are so lucky to have me on your team.” 

What makes his prayer such a distortion?  He compares himself to others rather than to God’s character.  This is akin to, “as long as I can outrun you, I don’t have to outrun the bear that is chasing the two of us ready to chomp on one of our legs.”  In comparing himself to those around him that don’t measure up in his estimation, he creates a false sense of achievement and security.  The standard, however, is not the world, our neighbor, or even our immediate family, but God himself and scripture is very explicit that we all fall short of the glory of God.

This Pharisee falls victim to one other fallacy that is highlighted when Jesus draws upon the comparison with the prayer of the tax collector.  Where the tax collector approaches God with humility, appealing to nothing but God’s character, the Pharisee approaches God in his own terms, based on his perceived achievements.  

The question for each one of us this day is, do I undergird my prayers and petitions with a laundry list of perceived personal merit, or do I approach God bare, exposed and in humility, relying entirely upon his gracious character? 

I would encourage each one of us to give one ear to listening to our own prayers as we spend time with God the next time.  Listen attentively and see which prayer yours resembles more, the Pharisee’s or the tax collectors. 

October 24, 2010, The Way Christian Fellowship, Dcn. Kirsten Gardner, Teaching Pastor

As a society we are entirely achievement and goal oriented. We celebrate accomplishments, records and wins. We love reading about stars and champions; professional athletes that break new records and researchers that discover medical breakthroughs. Yet, rarely are we privy to read about the mundane hours spent in gyms training, or the agonizing time spent at lab benches. While we celebrate wins, we often neglect to take notice of the perseverance and endurance that wrought these accomplishments.

Last week, as the world watched 33 miners escape the captivity of 69 days spent in the cave of a collapsed mine in Chile, we were given a glimpse at perseverance. Their win was their survival in the most challenging circumstances. It was their determination to persevere that held the spotlight for nearly two months on the world stage.

What a timely reminder for us on our Christian journey.

In Luke 18:1-8 Jesus turns to his disciples, instructing them to pray always and not to give up. In the ensuing parable we are presented with a story about an unkind judge and a persistent widow whose perseverance in asking for justice move the judge to act on her behalf. Jesus is teaching about perseverance in the face of adversity.

So, how do we persevere? Do we just hang on in our own strength?

In 2 Th 3:5 we are told, “May the Lord direct your hearts into God’s love and Christ’s perseverance.” We are able to persevere because at the source of our faith, Jesus Christ’s perseverance is the basis for our endurance. We will never be able to hang on in our own strength, but we can hang on knowing that it is Christ’s perseverance that empowers and strengthens the believer to endure.

When the Chilean miners were asked about how the 33 men had endured, the men responded by saying, “We were 33 + 1.” Each one alluded to the fact that they had endured by the strength and perseverance of Jesus Christ.

Whatever we may be facing as a family, as an individual, as friends, if we pray and commit ourselves to Jesus Christ, we are always “+1” strong.

May Christ’s perseverance be your strength and endurance this very day,
Dcn. Kirsten

“People never seemed to notice that, by saving time, they were losing something else. No one cared to admit that life was becoming even poorer, bleaker and more monotonous… But time is life itself, and life resides in the human heart. And the more people saved, the less they had.”
- Excerpt from Momo by Michael Ende

If you’re looking for a good book to read, I always recommend Momo. The book is hard to find because it was originally written in German, but Amazon usually carries it. I won’t spoil the plot in case you do wish to read the book, but generally speaking the story involves our curious relationship as humans with time. Even though Momo is usually classified as a children’s book, it contains some of the deepest wisdom I have ever read. I love this book because it reminds me that the key to time is not in time management, as if we mere mortals could really do such a thing, but rather in how we value our relationships and life itself.

All of us struggle with fitting enough into a day. Based on a recent employee survey at my company, a lot of my organization struggles with feeling like priorities have been set with unrealistic expectations, or they feel that they cannot maintain a reasonable balance between their personal life and work life. As a manager whose job begins with ensuring that my employees have what they need to succeed, these numbers trouble me. I want to do something like offer classes in maximizing personal productivity through Microsoft Outlook or give everyone a Franklin Covey calendar and a copy of The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Indeed, I highly recommend this book (not as much as Momo). But I think something much deeper is afoot in our modern workplace that cannot be conquered through better productivity and communication.

I think we are losing our ability to value work, relationships, and play for what they simply are. We are so busy saving time, racing to deadlines, and squeezing out that little bit of extra effort that we are losing our ability to focus on the task right in front of us and to complete it. More troubling, we are losing the ability to value the person right in front of us. It’s as if each of us is compelled by some external force to garner more resources and attention, and since there aren’t enough of these to go around, we try that much harder to hoard what cannot be captured. We then spend too little time actually doing what we need to get done, thereby reinforcing our perception that we need to garner more resources.

If this sounds familiar, here’s my advice: STOP! No one ever de-cluttered their life with incremental steps. No one ever built trust with an email or a planning meeting. No one ever really lives in Outlook. Time is life itself. Choose to enjoy the time you have right NOW. Choose to listen. Choose to laugh. Choose to not worry. Be clear about what you are doing, and just do that. Do not worry about tomorrow. Each day has enough trouble of its own.

You can never ever go wrong by being clear with yourself (and your boss and your team) about what you will do today. But today is about more than just work. It’s your time to live.

- Mark Gardner