Jesus said,
“When you are praying,
do not heap up empty phrases
as the Gentiles do; for they think
that they will be heard because of
their many words. Do not be like them,
for your Father knows what you
need before you ask him.”
Matthew 6:7-8
There are days when I'd like to think that I'm an efficient pray-er ... exactly like Jesus recommended in this passage.
An economy of words. Short arrow prayers. Aimed crisply at God's heart. Not babbling on. That’s often my prayer style.
But that's not at all what Jesus is talking about.
Rather, we need to ask again the purpose of prayer. What is it? The purpose of prayer is not to get things (especially according to your desires). The purpose of prayer is to unite your heart to God's.
In private, I probably ought to have a lot of words, long conversations with my Father. (And I certainly ought to mix into that a good amount of listening to my Father too ... as he speaks to me through his Word and though the sweet silence of listening.) But if a heart-level relationship is the goal, my economy of words is probably not the ideal.
So why did Jesus say what he did in this passage about being efficient in our prayers?
Because -- if you remember the context -- he's talking about what hypocrites do in public.
In public, we don't need a cacophony of words, used to draw attention to ourselves. Be short. Be sweet. Be true. And then go home and pour out your words (and your heart) in your prayer closet.
Context.
That's what Jesus is saying. If I'm praying to be heard by others ... then I need to stop. If I'm praying to be heard by God ... then I need to retreat to the silence, maybe join with a couple of prayer partners, and work on my relationship with my Father.
In Christ's Love,
a guy who was the shortest guy
in seventh grade, and
it’s carried over to prayer …
a guy who runs the risk of being
too short and pithy in prayer
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