What our plans and prayers reveal about our hearts

Observation: American Christians (like me) plan and pray for lots of stuff.

Two examples.

The first is the most intense period of prayer I recall from my youth. Our church prayed for at least two or three years for a new building or money to build a new building.

The second is current (and a little embarrassing). I’ve been making plans for upgrading our deck. You know: New furniture, lights, paint, etc. Maybe a fire feature and an outdoor projection unit for movies in the moonlight.

As I mature in Christian faith and practice, examples like these seem more odd and out of place.

In the first example, our church needed a new building because we outgrew the one we were in. We needed a bigger building so more people could grow along with a growing congregation.

People were the point of needing a new church building.

I don’t recall that our language reflected that. Our focus was always on the dollars. Visible proof: A running total of the building fund balance that was on display next to the baptistry and pulpit. The weekly church bulletin updated the same number each week.

An effective fundraising mechanism? Yes.

The church did eventually raise the money and build the building.

In that new facility, however, the church lost more than half its members. Attendance dropped to about a third of what it had been in the old (smaller) building.

In the end, I think the emphasis on buildings and money undermined what made that church grow in the first place: People being together with people. People enjoying people. People taking care of people.

An earnest pursuit of making room to bring more people together in faith, hope, and love eventually lost its way. The machinery of architectural renderings, fundraising, marketing, and real estate speculation squeezed out blood and flesh and love and magic.

What if, instead of praying so earnestly for a building and for land and for money, we had prayed for people? Lord, help us get better at taking care of our own. Lord, send us people who need what we have here. Lord, prepare our hearts to accept them into our church. Lord, give us whatever we need to love each other and love our neighbors more. Lord, teach us to be content with what you give us in full confidence that it is enough for what you want us to do.

Back to my deck.

What is it I really want? A better deck? Or more family, friends, and neighbors enjoying meals together in our home?

It’s the latter.

Do I really need a better deck to do that?

Not really.

What do my plans and thoughts reveal about my heart?

I admit I want that better deck for me. I want to have it to have it. And because I’m vain and want to impress my guests with what I have.

If the point is quality time with family and friends and neighbors, shouldn’t my plans and prayers focus on family, friends, and neighbors? Shouldn’t I be thinking about the people with whom I want to share life rather than the stuff I want to acquire and control?

Do we want real relationship with people or do we want stuff we can use to manipulate them into esteeming us, favoring us, and liking us?

Do we want people or do we just want access to THEIR stuff?

Analyzing and observing our plans and prayers is a good place to start.