Wednesday, October 19, 2016

what can we do?

Lewis talks about all the things we can't do to change the world today in A Year with C.S. Lewis.

He talks about how trying to change everything will just end in disappointment. So instead we should focus on relieving the pain that we find before us in our lives.

I agree that we should address the suffering we find as we go through our lives. When we can visit the sick or imprisoned... feed the hungry.... clothe the naked... we are, Jesus says, doing these things for Him.

But I think that when we pray, we're doing far more. And I think there are several reasons for this. One, God can do far more than we can. When we pray, we're getting serious firepower involved in the situation. We're calling in the big guns. And God answers our prayers, sometimes in ways that even surprise us.

Two, it is SO EASY to become proud of ourselves when we help people. When someone thanks us, it's hard NOT to swell with pride at how great we are to help those people. But when we pray, we are far enough removed from the situation that we almost never get that sense of pride. We stay humble as we ask for God to make the difference in their lives.

So let's pray without ceasing. Let's make every thought a prayer, by lifting it to Him. If it's worthy, He'll accept it. If it's not, He'll redeem it.

God, thanks for the privilege of prayer.

2 comments:

Julie said...

Amen

Unknown said...

No, I hadn't read this before but it is so poignant and pertinent to a time such as this.