An (un) American Prayer

One of our workers in a turmoil-stricken country recently overheard the following words at a prayer meeting of young Arab believers: 

“Give us a government through which people will wake up and notice that only in You can we truly find salvation, even if it means that we will be persecuted even more. Lord, we are prepared to suffer, if only through our pain, more people will find the way to You.”

When was the last time you heard someone pray like that at your church prayer meeting?

For that matter, when was the last time I prayed like that myself?  I'm not sure I ever have. 

What troubles me even more is that I'm not sure I even want to.

I recall many years ago when the German theologian, Helmut Thielicke, was traveling in America, he remarked that American churches have very little understanding of the purpose of suffering. I guess he didn't have to be a great theologian to observe that; he was a pastor in Germany during the Second World War, and ministered daily to the dying. I suspect that we, on the other hand, are so steeped in the so-called 'Prosperity Gospel', that we don't even notice it has affected us, even when we reject it in theory.

As David Platt remarked at URBANA 12, 'we come to Jesus to get stuff.' If the stuff keeps coming, then God is blessing us; if it doesn't, then either I am messing up on my end, or possibly He isn't keeping His end of the bargain.

Most Christians in the majority world don't have the 'luxury' of adding other things to Jesus. In his book, Muslims, Christians, and Jesus: Gaining Understanding and Building Relationships (well worth the read, by the way), author Carl Medearis, who lived many years in the Middle East, tells about speaking at a city-wide discussion in his home state of Colorado. Two imams (Muslim teachers), two rabbis, and a Catholic priest, responded to the question, 'How does your religion get you to heaven?'

After the other speakers had articulated various views on what their religion teaches about the subject, Carl stood up. I'll let him tell it in his own words (pp. 175-176):

"I was praying for something significant to say. This is what came out: 'Actually, my religion doesn't get you to heaven.' The other panelists shifted uncomfortably in their chairs, and the host asked if I would like to explain more.

'Sure,' I said, 'I've just never seen a religion save anyone. All religions are great at laying out some basic rules–dos and don'ts–that are good for our lives, but they don't really provide hope or any kind of eternal security. It seems religions end up causing more trouble than solving anything.'

'So then,' said the host,'how do you get to heaven?'

This all seemed so basic, but I thought I might as well go ahead and say the obvious. 'Well, it's Jesus. He didn't start a new religion . . . . He takes us to heaven, not a religion.'"

When I wrote that 'Christians in the majority world don't have the luxury of adding other things to Jesus'– well that's not quite true, either. As one of our leaders recently wrote concerning the Arab Spring, 'the dream of more liberty has not come true for most people, and the hope of economic betterment has been fulfilled, either. Most citizens still suffer under unemployment and poverty."

The difference though may be what my Arab brother knows. Once any of us, American or otherwise, discover Jesus is all we need, then we can really learn to pray. And live. And love.

US Director