When I was looking for work one summer between college semesters, a friend persuaded his father to hire me for his construction company. Brad and I worked on separate crews, but one day I heard my friend’s voice crackling on the radio as he called back to his father at home base:
“KPX-222-4-9er to KPY-432-5.”
I was impressed at how professional Brad sounded. But there was no response, and I heard him try again:
“KPX-222-4-9er to KPY-432-5.”
Again, there was no response in the long hiss of dead air.
Finally, my friend dropped his on-air professionalism and said, “Brad to Dad. Come in, Dad.”
Then I heard, “What is it, son?”
That incident came to mind while I was reading Jesus’ instructions about prayer. In Matthew 6:5-8, Jesus cautioned us against two temptations: praying to impress others and praying to manipulate God.
First, Jesus spoke of hypocrites who “love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by people” (verse 5). He was speaking about Pharisees who aimed to impress others with their piety.
Then he turned from the prayer habits of Jewish insiders to the practices of Gentile outsiders who “imagine they’ll be heard for their many words” (verse 7). He was referring to pagans who felt they could get the gods to do what they wanted if they used the right rituals and incantations.
So, Jesus said we should not use prayer to impress others or to manipulate God. Instead, we should come to God as we’d come to a loving father who is so attentive to our needs that he already knows what we’re going to talk about before we begin praying.
When I was small, my friends and I would giggle uncontrollably at the offertory prayer of one particular deacon. Trying to sound like the King James Version of the Bible, he would solemnly close his prayers with, “We thank thee thou knowest whatest we need.”
Come to God like Brad calling out to his dad. He already knowest whatest you need.
Tom
Tom Goodman serves as pastor at Hillcrest Church in Austin, Texas. His sermons are available on YouTube and the HillcrestToGo Podcast and you can find him on Facebook and Twitter. If someone forwarded this email newsletter to you, sign up here to receive Tom’s weekly devotional in your email inbox.