In Matthew 6, Jesus gives us two pitfalls to avoid when praying:

1. Don’t pray to impress the people around you (Matthew 6:5)
2. Don’t use meaningless repetition (Matthew 6:7)

I thought it would be helpful to look at these two in greater detail.

Praying to impress

I assume that anyone who has ever attended a prayer meeting or small group has been intimidated by that person who seems to always pray in a beautiful and articulate way. I certainly have been intimidated over the years. My capabilities don’t run toward flowery language at any time and certainly not in an off-the-cuff situation like spontaneous prayer. It is easy to let the “professionals” handle the praying duties in such situations.

I am not saying that everyone who has that “knack” for praying articulately has the motive of impressing the people around him. My point is not to judge their motives, my point is that I should not be intimidated by this nor should I hold back in praying.

When I hold back for this reason, I have fallen into the first pitfall. When I hold back, I am being more concerned about impressing the people around me than I am about communicating with God.

The antidote to this is given in the example prayer that comes later in Matthew 6. Jesus’ example prayer is not flowery, nor does it contain lots of words. It is simple, honest and to the point. The Lord’s Prayer is a prayer that a child can recite but one that adult can meditate on for countess hours and find new levels of meaning and application.

Don’t pray to impress other people, pray to communicate with the God who cares.

Using meaningless repetition

Notice that Jesus qualifies this as meaningless repetition. From this I conclude that no-one gets extra points for the number of words used or how often the prayer is offered.

On the other hand, In Luke 18:1-8, Jesus recites a parable that illustrates the need to be persistent in prayer.

There is nothing wrong with coming back to God repeatedly with a concern. Paul prayed repeatedly for his “thorn” to be removed. Paul tells us in Ephesians 1:6 that he “did not cease” giving thanks and mentioning the Ephesian believers in his prayers. Paul told the believers in Colossae that he was “praying always for them” (Colossians 1:3). Repetition is not the problem. There is nothing wrong with repetition as long as it is honest and heartfelt.

There are things in our lives that God allows to linger, which cause us to frequently come to him in prayer. Rogue children, health issues, family tension, persecution, job instability, etc. are all things that persist in disrupting our lives but should also cause us to seek God for sustenance and relief. And we should seeking God for that relief until it comes.

The conclusion

In a public setting like a prayer meeting, pray as if you are in your house and all alone with God. Pray in whatever style of  language you normally use. Pray with the intensity that you feel while you are praying. Pray with your mind and heart fully  engaged. Pray with tears. Pray with laughter, Pray with humor. Pray with sadness. Just pray.

A Tweet in reaction to yesterday’s post made it apparent that I need to provide a qualification to some of my comments in the post.

Here is the Tweet:

Giving to the Poor – https://t.co/9qJCji1iuT via @mhmcintyre I believe in short term missions done properly with a purpose. #mytwocents

— Michael Andrzejewski, CFP ® (@mpandrzejewski) October 26, 2015

In the post, I had no intention of denigrating short term missions. There is much good that comes from individuals and teams working on projects away from home.

But such work needs to be done with wisdom and coaching from people who understand the context where the mission is to take place.

Probably the best way to do this is to partner with an individual or organization that is already at the location where the ministry is to happen. Those that are already there have a better understanding of the need, and they will be there to follow up and provide continuity of the good things that take place during the short term project.

Short term missions projects are great, if they are done in a way that is truly beneficial to the recipients of the ministry. That benefit has to be viewed from a long-term or eternal perspective. Will the good work that is done provide lasting benefit to the community in which it is done?

That is the important question.

“Thus, when you give to the needy, sound no trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may be praised by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:2–4, ESV)

Jesus’ point is that we can do the right thing for the wrong reason. In this case, it is a good thing to help the poor, but it should be done for the benefit of the poor rather than for acclaim. Leon Morris, in his excellent commentary on Matthew, says this about the hypocrites:

“They were more interested in ensuring that they were known as benefactors than in genuinely helping the poor; reputation rather than relief of poverty was what mattered to them.”

We see this played out in our political arena today. One the one hand, some politicians make a great show of helping the poor and on the other hand, some argue that they are poor because of lack of effort. The functional question is whether the poor are actually helped or if they are being used for personal or political gain.

My point is not to make a political statement, but to illustrate that this is a universal problem. We can do what appears to be the right thing for selfish reasons.

The challenge for Christians is that we can make a great show of being willing to help without doing what is required to actually help.

For example, do our short term missions projects provide any lasting benefit? When we parachute in, spend a week and then leave, do we accomplish anything that lasts? Are we going there for our benefit or for the benefit of those who we are visiting? Are we doing projects and giving money because we are prompted by God to do so or are we doing it so that we can be seen as being generous or being spiritual? These are questions that need to be asked.

They need to be asked because we are fallen creatures and our motives are less than pure. Jesus is not saying that we should not give to the poor if our hearts are not exactly right, but we should be aware that our motives may be less than ideal when we do it.

Paul tells us in Romans 12:2 that our minds are in need of constant renewal and an examination of our motives for doing charitable works is part of that renewal process.

Keep doing the right thing and pray that God will move us closer to doing it for the right reason.

In doing research for a talk I’m going to give in November, I ran across this sentence by John Stott:

“The reason why many people give the wrong answers to questions about the cross, and even ask the wrong questions, is that they have carefully considered neither the seriousness of sin nor the majesty of God.”

John Stott – The Cross of Christ

Worse yet, the culture around me is losing its ability to recognize sin at all. It is one thing to fail to recognize the seriousness of sin, it is another entirely to be unable or unwilling to declare any behavior to be sin at all.

I have heard it said that an alcoholic has to hit rock bottom before he recognizes that he has a problem. Perhaps it is also true with all sin. If we are more or less functioning from day to day, perhaps we can explain away our selfishness, pride, impiety or sexual impurity. After all, to be caught up in this things is common to humanity.

It is true that I am no different from the rest of humanity, but that does not make my sin acceptable in my eyes or in God’s eyes which leads to the second of Stott’s assertions.

If we fail to take the majesty and holiness of God seriously, we will also end up in error. While God is described all through the Bible as being slow to anger and abounding in mercy, he is also described as being infinitely holy and unable to look favorably on sin.

God is not a big buddy in the sky. He will not wink at you while you disobey God’s laws or man’s laws.

So stop for a minute and contemplate the chasm that lies between man in his sin and an infinitely holy God.  Even a short meditation on this will bring a much better understanding of the Cross and why Jesus had to die.