Apparently, a lot of people. Of course, to be fair, as soon as I sit down at work, I log into Facebook, check my email, and try to connect and communicate with people. And millions more Americans do just that on Facebook, Twitter, texting, and Google Plus. But not MySpace. Seriously, does anyone still use that?
I dare say we communicate more with other that any time ever in the history of the world. Some of the biggest companies in the world are based in information technologies- really, it means communications. And they got so big because we all want to share our stories with others and hear from our friends. And it's all ages. Even my great-aunt, who is in her 80's, has an I-Pad so she can use the internet. We can instantaneously communicate with each other, no matter where we are.
If only we had that with God...
Funny, God was riding the communication wave eternities before Apple, AT&T, and those other guys. And God's communication grid never goes down. But I'll stop before I get into the ultra cheesy usual Christian area of "I have knee-mail...heh,heh." The point is a serious one- why do we communicate so voluminously with each other, yet struggle to communicate so freely with God?
The first, and most potent argument to me, is that our social media communication is barely skin deep, so it doesn't cost us anything. The readers of our tweets and texts don't see all the thoughts behind those characters like God does with our prayers. Sure, occasionally people respond negatively to what we post (Just ask any Aggie with friends from Texas Tech or Baylor after this weekend's SEC stuff) but for the most part, its all fluff. With the occasional deep thought. But our prayers aren't- or rather can't be- superficial. Not for long, anyway. Largely because God sees our comments for what they are- their sincerity or lack thereof is blatantly obvious.
Second, we don't think prayer works. Honestly, we don't. Maybe its because we don't get what we want immediately, or in the timely fashion we so desire. We still throw words at God, but our heart isn't in them. We lack what James talks about in his fifth chapter, verse 15- "And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well..." We have little or no faith that God will hold up his end of things, or that He can. At least, that's what happens to us eventually if we allow our prayer life to whither and die. We need to learn perseverance, to keep praying even when its hard- and to not just pray for ourselves and our wants.
Which leads us to the great irony of our culture at large- and the Christian culture in specific. While we as Christians can and do communicate more frequently with each other- and to a degree non-believers- we are not actually any closer than we were before social media. And I believe prayer is at the root of that irony.
Do you pray for each other? And I mean beyond "Lord, bless Joe and his family." Do pray for Joe's spiritual growth and for his struggle with sin, for God's leadership in his life and against spiritual attacks he may face? Probably not. And you have the legitimate excuse that Joe doesn't share those things with you. Because Joe doesn't talk about the deep things- he's like the rest of who want a Facebook level of trust and interaction with our brothers and sisters in Christ. We don't share with each other because we don't want people to know our weaknesses, our failures- or that we really are human after all. But then, Joe may not sure his struggles with you because he doubts- legitimately so- that you don't really pray for him, or care as much about his struggles as he does. I mean, really, do you forget to pray for another person's request as often as I do? Because it's often for me.
We talk a lot about church unity, and feeling like we belong in a church, and having community. But all that is just surface level if we don't honestly, and deeply pray for each other. James give us that command in verses 13 and 14 of chapter 5:
Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. Is anyone among you sick? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord.
And then, he goes on with this in verse 16:
Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective.
We need to be much more serious about prayer- for ourselves and especially for each other. So here is what I've been doing, that I now propose to you. Reach into your pocket, or you purse, and pull out that thing you use for texting
If we want to be unified as believers in Christ, we must pray for each other. It will be hard to do- it's not Twitter, after all. But press on. God desires it. Your brothers and sisters in Christ need it.
You need it.
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