For the past two weeks I have been part of a Facebook thread with a friend of mine who I deeply respect, but who has quite a bit of enmity for religion and, for pretty good reasons, Christianity in particular. One question/issue that has been raised more than once in the thread is that prayer is pointless and rather than praying for things why don’t Christians just do the things they pray for.
This is a really good point/question. If all of our effort for change is exclusively limited to prayer I honestly believe our lives are not what Christ calls them to be. Moreover, if our prayers are centered on some friend becoming a Christian because we are unwilling to accept them where they are then this is not only an insult toward that friend, but it is an insult to God and it shows judgment rather than love.
On the other hand, prayer helps me to know and accept that I am not capable of affecting change in the world by myself. Prayer screams out “I need help, the world needs help, I want to see the world a better place, but I am completely incapable of doing this on my own.” Also, I shudder to think of the big head that I would have if I were capable of affecting positive change on my own—prayer keeps me humble; it keeps me grounded; it helps me to know that I am not God.
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