Funnels

          I want to say something here that may confuse some and offend others. We live in a very self-centered culture. One of the marks of our culture, according to Charles Colson, is that we pass all of our decisions through basically two grids—two funnels if you will: personal success and personal pleasure. In other words, in our society today, behind each decision, one of these two criteria has to be met.

I want to talk about the funnel of personal pleasure and its impact on the lives of Christians. This funnel has influenced many of our spiritual activities. I see the quality of some Christians’ prayer lives to be in direct proportion to the amount of vivid personal pleasure they expect prayer to provide.

Someone speaks on the powerful experience he or she is finding in his or her prayer life, and some of the hearers think, “I want to experience that too!” What is often occurring is these Christians are passing data through the funnel of vivid personal experience.  

Careful. That motive for prayer easily morphs into self-centeredness. I know, because I have tried it.

We cannot sustain Christ-like prayer lives with self-centered motives. The motive for prayer is rooted in relationship with God. I wonder how many people fall in love with prayer more than they do with God.

Just to clarify, I am not saying that it is wrong to desire to tap into the power of God, nor is it wrong to desire a profound spiritual experience through prayer. However, if these are our dominant motives, we are ultimately going to experience pain and heartache. Our prayer lives will suffer; our spiritual lives will suffer.

Five Things I Think I Think (with a nod to Peter King for this idea)

1. Today I am blessed to be in Searcy Arkansas with my beautiful daughter, Haleigh. The Harding University Lectures are going on this week, too.

2. Great job Case McCoy and David Ash. You two are already serving as marvelous quarterbacks for the UT Longhorns.

3. I must thank the Winnsboro Church of Christ for making me feel so welcome on FAMILY DAY yesterday. This is my old hometown church, and they honored me by inviting me back to serve as their resource speaker. Since it was Family Day, I decided to lay a little Proverbs on us concerning parenting, purity and partnering (marriage.) It was especially neat to see some of the other guests who came in for the day.

4. Texas Rangers—I believe in you.

5. I felt so bad about this error, I felt compelled to put it in my blog in case anybody listens to last Sunday night’s sermon (Sept. 18) on the Internet. The following is actually from the apology I wrote in our church bulletin:

            “I am so glad we are saved by grace. I could never live a perfect life. To illustrate, I want to offer an example from last Sunday night.

            “I arrived home and I asked Judy about a lingering doubt in my mind from that evening’s sermon. She confirmed my error.

            “During my sermon, I mentioned that watching the ten o’clock news could disturb a person’s sleep. My encouragement had been to pass on the late news; it can wait until morning.

            “I then ad-libbed that if something important should happen, somebody will let you know. As an example, “If someone kills Osama, your daughter will awaken you and tell you.” This is exactly what my daughter, Haleigh, did last spring—she awakened me to tell me that Navy seals had killed Osama Bin Laden.

            “Unfortunately, my mental gears were out of whack, and I substituted a “b” for the letter “s.” I’m sure I sounded flippant and even disrespectful as referenced our president, instead of Osama. I apologize, and I want those present to know that I would never intentionally show any disrespect to anyone who is serving as our president.”           

           

            My mistake was an honest one, but it was still a mistake.

Time to Pray

There have been times in my life when I have struggled with prayer. I struggled in the sense that I did not make time to pray in my everyday routine. Without question, a big reason for my struggle was selfishness.

In college, I had to make time for my studies. I was preparing myself to be a preacher after all. I also had to make time for my friends. Obviously, I had to see the sports report every day on TV. And I enjoyed reading a TIME or SPORTS ILLUSTRATED when I got the chance. When I was in student government, there were meetings to attend. There were also spiritual activities: church, daily chapel, Tuesday night devo... Many times I found myself doing no more than beginning a prayer as I lay down at night. Usually I fell asleep before finishing it.

Finally, I graduated from college. But guess what? I was still too busy to pray. A few years later, I moved to a foreign country to do mission work—still too busy to pray.

Finally, I had to get real. What I had was not a time problem. What I had was a priority problem. I had about 163 things that I wanted to do before I prayed. The issue was not that I needed more hours, more minutes, or more seconds in my day. The issue was that I needed more Jesus and less Mark in my day.

Today, spending time in prayer is still a battle. I often reflect upon the absurdity of that reality.

Think about it. When I spend little time praying in a given day, what am I saying? I’m saying with my attitude, “Excuse me, God. But I think I can make it on my own today. I’ll call you when I need you.”

I’m saying, “No offense God. But today, ‘Good Morning America,’ ‘The Dallas Morning News,’ five telephone calls, two appointments, two ham and cheese sandwiches, one ten minute nap, two hours of research, two more appointments, time with two of my kids, two phone calls, one visit with a neighbor, a conversation with my wife, playing with another child, putting my children to bed, and reading from a good book are more important to me than spending time talking with you.”

Take what I just said and apply it to couples and marriage. I know of too many couples that divorced because they allowed an aggregation of little things to prevent them from spending time with their mates. What is it about taking such a relatively minute portion of our day to talk with God that makes it so difficult for us?

I think one reason is that the god of this world has so much power. Satan has tremendous resources, one of which is our nature, which is predisposed to sin.

Another thing that Satan has going for him is that he is one of the most humble beings on this planet. Much more humble than we are. He doesn’t care if we realize we are serving him. What matters to him is that he’s got us. And if we are living to please ourselves, he’s got us.

Can you imagine if I treated one of my four kids like I do God? What if the standard that determined if I fed my kids was the same as the standard I have that determines when I pray—personal desire.

“What sweetie? You haven’t eaten all night? You want some breakfast? Well I’m watching ‘Good Morning America’ right now. How about after it’s over?”

After ‘Good Morning America’ is over: “What sweetie? You’re hungry. Well I’m reading the paper right now. How about if I get you some later?”

We have a name for parents whose quality of treatment for their children is based upon personal desire—child abusers. Obviously, a parent does not determine the feeding of a child based on what is personally most satisfying for himself. The fulfillment of the physical and nutritional needs of a child is based on a commitment. Personal desires and conveniences cannot be the priority.

I wish we took the nutrition of our spiritual needs as seriously.

             A good prayer life is a decision. It is not based upon when we want to do it. It is not even based upon when we feel like doing it. It is based upon a decision by our minds, by that special place called the will.

Five Things I Think I Think (with a nod to Peter King for this idea)

1. What an exceptional TV Special by Diane Sawyer on the just released tapes of Jacqueline Kennedy. If you have not read about it, Caroline Kennedy recently released the audio tape recordings of interviews that historian Arthur Schlesinger conducted in early 1964. Having read many historical works on the Kennedys, I heard some insights I had never read. Very well done.

2. Just finished an audio book for the second time—BABE by Robert Creamer. It is a biography of Babe Ruth. Scratch that—it remains THE biography of Babe Ruth.

3. Next movie, see WARRIOR. I am not a fan of UFC fighting (although people occasionally confuse me for a UFC fighter), but this film is not about UFC. It is about family, including a dysfunctional family, and it is about people. UFC is the tool to tell the story. Mark my words; Nick Nolte will win the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. His portrayal of an alcoholic father is perfect. I especially love the added detail of his character listening to tapes of the book MOBY DICK. You will appreciate this movie.

4. I owe the Dallas Cowboys an apology. I pronounced them dead last night to my church. Season over, I said. Afterwards, one of our elders gave me the news—the Cowboys’ pulled it out and Romo’s a hero. Okay, rumors of the Cowboys’ death are exaggerated. Time will tell if the exaggeration was great.

5. Happy 78^th birthday today, Martha Edge. Much love to you.

Prayer Preoccupation

Have you ever been listening to someone pray and your mind wander? I can be in church, in a prayer group, listening to my wife or daughter pray, it makes no difference, and I struggle with keeping my focus on their prayers. Shoot, I sometimes have trouble keeping my concentration in my own prayers! Why is that?

I truly believe a major barrier to an effective prayer life is a preoccupation with self. It is selfishness.

I’m not proud to admit this, but when someone is praying in church I sometimes have a problem tuning in. I find my attention being naturally drawn to income taxes, or financial problems, or a family problem, or a Dallas Cowboy problem, or any problem that is important to my life in that moment. Sometimes, I find myself thinking about my sermon. Sometimes, something the guy mentions in his prayer causes me to stop and reflect on his point. Meanwhile, his prayer has left me behind.

In Argentina, a teammate and I use to meet with the college students of our church at 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday mornings to pray. It so happened that because of scheduling difficulties, we had to choose that particular time and day of the week. Wednesday was my day off, but since the prayer session took place before my family awoke, I cheerfully went.

You might think my struggle there would have been to stay awake. It wasn’t. Instead I found myself making a massive effort to stay focused on what the person was praying. Time, however, would chip away at my concentration, and, at about the third or fourth person in the group, I would begin to struggle with the distracting thoughts. (“It’s my day off, what should my family and I do today?”)

Now, we can say that all of these struggles are human. And they are. And you can tell me that you struggle with this too. I appreciate your honesty. But the fact is, the reason this is a shared human experience is that our own selfish interests basically dominate us.

We want to talk about what we’re interested in. We want to focus on our concerns. Let’s face it. Sometimes it’s not fun to listen to what someone else is praying about. Sometimes, someone else’s problems don’t compare in our minds to our own.

We say we are God’s people, and we are. We say we are New Testament Christians. And we are. But, as God’s people, as New Testament Christians, we should pray along with other Christians in their prayers.

It is simply the right thing to do.

Five Things I Think I Think (with a nod to Peter King for this idea)

1. I read LARRY KING’s TRUTH BE TOLD. I got to tell you, it is a fun, fascinating, and quick read. Larry is the king (get it?) of anecdotes; nevertheless, there are some profound insights from his life and connection with his guests as well. Our local library has a copy—read it.

2. I think Brad and Colt McCoy’s new book is so impactful, I have decided to read it to my son—a little bit every night.

3. A friend of mine recommended we see SEVEN DAYS IN UTOPIA, so Judy and I saw it Labor Day. Good flick. Robert Duval basically plays a Christian “Yoda” to Lucas Black’s “Luke Skywalker.” It is a sweet movie with Christian and spiritual themes. My kids could have watched it. I recommend it.

4. It is hard to believe ten years have passed since September 11, 2001. I think few people have changed the world like those 19 hijackers did. Unfortunately, they have changed the world for the worse. When I think about the thousands of lives lost that day and in the wars to follow, all of the freedoms lost, all of the tens of billions of dollars that day has cost the world (the economic impact), I feel saddened.

5. Nothing worse than seeing the Cowboys almost win a game I expected them to lose, and, then,right at the very end--lose a game they should have won.

Prayer

            Recently, someone in my congregation asked me to preach on prayer. In my sermon prep, I came to an interesting conclusion. The older I get, the more I value accessing God, and the less I value asking God.

            I still believe in asking God—don’t get me wrong. I’m not a legalist—like the single girl in the old story, who really wanted to get married. She was afraid to ask the Lord directly for a husband, so she prayed, “Oh, Lord, I would never be so presumptuous as to ask you for a husband; however, my mother would sure love to have a son-in-law...”

            One reason for this is, I have come to another conclusion: I believe the Bible is just as much a book about prayers answered “no” as it is about prayers answered “yes.”

            Captives of Israel and Judah sent up a lot of prayers to God, asking that He rescue them from exile. Many died with God’s answer being, no. 

            For centuries, before Jesus, many Jews beseeched God to give them a Messiah to drive out the Romans. God answered, no.

            Paul asked God to remove his thorn in the flesh. God answered, no.

            My favorite, though, is Jesus’ prayer to be spared the cross. God answered, no.

            I have lived enough to see some of my requests answered “no” by God, and I realize how blessed I am that he did not grant my request. This has given me more confidence in God and His work. (As if He needed that!)

            Slowly, almost imperceptibly, I find myself looking for where God is working. I find myself asking God that He reveal where He is working and allow me to be a part of it.

            I still make personal requests of God. But, I value more asking God for you, because I see Jesus doing that a lot in Scripture.

            One last thought. A few years ago, Mark E. Thibodeaux, in his book, THE ARMCHAIR MYSTIC, wrote something that ministered to me greatly. He classified four stages of prayer:

            Talking at God

            Talking to God

            Listening to God

            Being with God

            I have come to appreciate the “Being with God” stage. Not all prayer is asking. 

           “Be still and know that I am God.”

  

            Five Things I Think I Think (with a nod to Peter King for this idea)

1. My friend, Patrick Leech, sent me a link this week to an article announcing Rob Bell’s new book, Love Wins: A Book About Heaven, Hell, and the Fate of Every Person Who Has Ever Lived.

            The author of the article summarized Bell to say some things that are out of the realm of traditional Christian teaching. However, the actual quotes of Bell posted in the article did not support the writer’s summary.

            I have seen enough of these to know that, sometimes, critics select quotes, out of context, to support their bias or to generate news. I think I will reserve opinion until I read the book.

            One thing is for sure; it should be an interesting read.            

2. I saw a hilarious spoof of the Beatles’ story last week. Co-written by Monty Python’s, Eric Idle, it was a movie, broadcast on NBC in 1978. The title was THE RUTLES: ALL YOU NEED IS CASH. I actually watched its original airing and remember cracking up. I found the DVD on NETFLIX last week and enjoyed it, probably more, the second time.

3. No way I’m picking the FINAL FOUR—yet.

4. Judy, Haleigh, and I saw a fascinating documentary last night. It was part of ESPN’s THIRTY FOR THIRTY series. Called FAB FIVE, it chronicled the story of the five freshmen, who started for the University of Michigan basketball team in 1991-92.

            It was totally enthralling. I, especially, was fascinated at how the documentary detailed the Fab Five's blending of hip-hop and popular culture.

            Warning, I am biased. I like a world that is not only safe for bald men, but also one that encourages shaved heads as a legitimate hairstyle. The Fab Five helped make this happen. Moreover, they were the ones that brought modest shorts to the youth. As one fellow said in the program, “Before the Fab Five, men looked they were playing basketball in panties.” Amen. Thanks, Fab Five.

5. God bless the people in Japan. The planet earth can be a fragile place.