Reasons not to pray

But Martha was distracted... 'Martha, Martha,' the Lord answered, 'you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed - or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her' Luke 10:40-42

Each day we face a raft of things that worry and distract us - work deadlines, job insecurity, family concerns, health issues and endless minutiae. All are important and clamour for our time and attention. The result is often that we run around chasing our tails. Time with Jesus, praying and listening, can get squeezed out. Prayer becomes either a luxury for when we have more time, or a desperate cry for help when facing difficult circumstances.

Gently confronting Martha's busyness, Jesus points to a 'better' way, a way that Mary demonstrates by sitting at Jesus' feet, listening to his wisdom and being available to respond to his direction. Why would Mary give time to be with Jesus? To the outsider it looks like the easy, even lazy, option. Yet Mary risks the censure of those close to her, and now has less time for the things on her 'To Do' list. Surely it's a matter of priority, what we see as important. We all give time to the people or activities we value.

Prayer does take time. Perhaps only a renewed belief that our prayers matter - that they are 'powerful and effective' (James 5:16) - will cause us to make space for prayer. In the busyness of life - at work and at home - only a renewed understanding of the goodness and love of our heavenly Father will encourage us to push through fears and difficulties and carve out precious time to spend with him.

As Marc Dupont says: 'The truth is... that it is humbling to cry out to God. It is humbling to spend time just waiting on his presence. It is humbling to say to oneself: "The very best I can do today is to minister to he who is best of all"... Prayer by its very nature repels the proud, because in essence, to seriously pray is to recognise that what we need the most, only God can provide' (Pursuing Open Heavens, 31).

There will always be good reasons not to pray. It takes courage to choose, like Mary, the better way.

Quotes from LICC - Word for the Week