Is it ever wrong to ask God for something? I think most of us wonder about this from time to time. We think to ourselves, “my problem/need/desire can’t be important enough to bother the creator and ruler of the world over.” In fact, I think there is a strong tendency in the human heart to abstain from prayers of petition because such prayers seem to reflect a weakness on our part. Well, what about that? In fact that is the point of prayers of petition; they do indeed reflect our weakness, because we are weak. Without him we can do nothing. He holds all things together. These are biblical truths that we give lip service to, but our pride in not taking our petitions to God exposes the lie in our affirmation of these truths.
What about the idea that God’s too big and my petition is too small? Does that carry weight? Well, let’s see: he’s the God who clothes the lilies of the field which are here today and gone tomorrow; he’s the God who knows when a single sparrow falls from the sky; he’s the God who’s interested enough in you to count the exact number of the hairs on your head. No, I don’t think the “God’s too big, my petitions are too small” argument carries any weight.
But, if you are still hesitant to take all your cares to the throne of God, let me give you one care that you should have no doubt about your need for help in addressing and God’s interest in hearing and responding to it. That care is the condition of your heart. You are powerless to improve it, you are prone to do harm to it, and only God can repair and keep it. What is more, God wants to repair and keep it. So, if you are remiss to take your petitions to God, leave this one out of your list of “I’ll take care of that myself”, and rush to his throne, and lay it at his, and by the power of Christ’s shed blood he will heal your heart and keep it always fixed upon him. At least cast that care on him.
I was recently talking with a close friend about the seeming harshness of Christianity’s claim to the exclusive means for salvation, i.e. through belief in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, who died on a cross, rose from the dead and ascended into heaven. I completely understood his trouble with that truth claim because it leaves a vast amount of the earth’s population without any hope for salvation and condemns them to hell. This does seem harsh. I tried to think of the best way to respond, and the only thought that came to my mind was that it is consistent with the Christian faith to declare this truth as taught in the Bible as a loving act of kindness toward those who do not believe this truth. In fact, to hide this truth from the unbeliever is callous and uncaring if indeed I believe that it is true.
However, the Christian’s claim of exclusive access to God and salvation has been labeled as intolerant. In reading a book today -”Promoting the Gospel” by John Dixon the truth about tolerance has become clearer to me. Dixon writes, “True tolerance does not involve accepting every viewpoint as true and valid; it involves treating with love and humility someone whose opinions you believe to be untrue and invalid.”
This statement confirms my belief that being tolerant of other beliefs does not dictate that I stop believing what I believe. What it does dictate is that while I consistently hold and proclaim my belief, I also treat with respect and dignity those who disagree with me and whom I am attempting to convince to believe as I believe.
Christians have been labeled as intolerant, I think, for two reasons. One, because people find our beliefs to be repulsive, which should not surprise us given the Bible tells us that the natural man (or the lost) will consider the gospel foolish and those who believe it, fools. Second, because Christians in their evangelistic efforts have often been unkind, disrespectful and prejudicial toward those who disagree with them and hold opposing views.
If we truly want to be tolerant, we must learn to hold our beliefs dearly, proclaim them clearly, and love others passionately, treating them with kindness and respect.
What can I say about my heart? Is it in the spiritual condition that it ought to be? Is it tuned to the notes of Heaven’s song, or is it sour or sharp? When my heart is played by the events of life and out of its abundance overflows words and deeds, is the melody a sweet and joyous one, or is it a harsh and critical note?
I pray that my heart is right. I pray that God through his Word would tune it to perfection so that every note that issues forth from it is a praise to His glorious grace and a witness of His marvelous love.
How can this happen? How can my heart be made right? I know the answer and always have. I must hide His Word there and His Word will sanctify me and prepare my heart to play the song of Heaven.
May it be so.
