"And when you come before God, don't turn that into a theatrical production...Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace."
Let's ask to ourselves, who are we trying to impress when we pray or worship?? Are we really looking to God?
We don't have to show ourselves to Him, he already knows our heart....isn't it so much easier just go the way we are...with all our failures, pain..?
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3 comments:
thanks, fabiana, for a moving and insightful reflection. you are very right to say that prayer should not be a "theatrical production". Jesus addresses this issue when He points out those who pray in order that they may be "seen by men".
those who pray in this way, are, in Jesus's words, hypocrites, and they receive their reward in full when they are recognized for their piety and spirituality.
again, the theme of doing the right outward acts without the right inward motives. do we also pray to "ensure ourselves that we are christians?"; to reassure ourselves of our own "piety and spirituality"?
after we have done the act of praying, we feel better, more "spiritual". i wonder if the "feeling better and more spiritual" is also our "reward in full".
similarly Jesus addresses those who pray with many words because they think that praying this way will make them heard. these are people who are not sure their prayers will be heard or "accepted". He likens such people to "pagans", in other words, people who don't know God.
the right way to pray, Jesus says, is to pray in private to "your Father who is unseen". Jesus emphasizes God as "Father" in this passage repeatedly. I think He means to show that true prayer comes as the result of a relationship with God as Father.
if we don't know God as Father, we will never be able to offer to Him acceptable prayer. the sermon on the mount once again divides those who do and those who do not.
I still find myself struggling to clear my mind of so much religious fluff when I pray. I feel my mind gets so clouded by all this fluffy prayer talk when all I should be doing is simply talking to God. And praying with simplicity can be so boring or the other extreme-even raw. But, it is honest. As Fabiana mentioned, God already knows our hearts. I guess God simply wants us to turn to Him.
Yea. Fabi you're right. I like to use many words when I pray so that that prayer can go longer or sound rich. Maybe God wants me to say what he really wants to hear but I maybe say what I want to hear for myself. Thinking inside like, "good job". There's God who's listening to me. No one else can be.
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