By David ReayTuesday 9 Aug 2022LifeWords DevotionalsDevotionsReading Time: 2 minutes
And then, when you pray, don’t be like the play-actors. They love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at street-corners so that people may see them at it. Believe me, they have had all the reward they are going to get. But when you pray, go into your own room, shut your door and pray to your Father privately. Your Father who sees all private things will reward you. And when you pray don’t rattle off long prayers like the pagans who think they will be heard because they use so many words. Don’t be like them. After all, God, who is your Father, knows your needs before you ask him. (PHILLIPS)
Many of our homes have fridge doors adorned with drawings done by our children, grandchildren, or great grandchildren. We display them not because they are masterpieces of design or beauty, but because they are reminders of those we love. There are no bad drawings among them.
Similarly, a child of God who prays cannot pray a “bad” prayer. True, our prayers are not to be ego trips or insistent demands that all our wishes and dreams are fulfilled. But nor are they to be perfectly crafted works of art, as if God is admiring our eloquence, our grammar, our knowledge. He accepts our jumbled words that don’t make a lot of sense, our sometimes-contradictory thought processes. We are his children who are opening our hearts to him, not students sitting for a prayer exam.
Jesus reminds his followers they don’t have to show off to others, and that they have no need to impress him either. Our prayers do not inform God; they don’t tell him anything he doesn’t already know. Our prayers are childlike expressions of love for him and dependence on him.
There are no bad drawings on our fridge doors. There are no bad prayers to God.
Blessings,
David