Paradigm shifts. They are often necessary. In the case of much prayer within the church, it is time for a paradigm shift. Our consumer-driven, self-absorbed culture has pushed prayer into a veritable humanist corner. Humanism claims that the reasoning of humans is to be valued above any divine thinking or supposed supernatural working. Although most Christians do not intend to function from a worldview antithetical to biblical Christianity, we may be doing so by default. As with any practice, prayer must be measured against God’s holy Word. We must do what Romans 12:2 commands us and ensure that our patterns of thinking do not simply flow with the culture at large, but rather press upstream against ungodly currents.
While recently teaching a Bible class, I was suddenly struck with a reality to which I had not previously paid much attention. We were considering the words of the Apostle Paul in Philippians 2:7 (ESV) about Jesus’ amazing condescension from Heaven to earth two thousand years ago, “But [Jesus] made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men.” We honed in on the fact that Jesus made a willful decision to serve His Father even though Jesus is Himself fully God. Jesus chose not to grasp at His own rights (Philippians 2:6), but He elected rather to do the Father’s will . . . no matter the cost. In doing so, He demonstrates to us the proper attitude for genuine Christian living (Philippians 2:5).
What hit me the hardest was Jesus’ approach to His Father’s will; Jesus always submitted Himself to the Father’s plan and glory. Though fully God, Christ worked the blueprint of the Father in order that the perfect will of the blessed Trinity be accomplished. Most notably, we remember Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane on the eve of His arrest as He contemplates the degree of suffering He is facing. Jesus prayed, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39, ESV).
Wow! Jesus was God in the flesh, and He actually says that He would rather have the Father’s will accomplished than gain what the humanity of Him desired – to escape suffering. Hence, the dramatic difference between Jesus’ prayer and Peter’s “prayer.” Peter had not wanted Jesus to suffer either, but he allowed no room for God’s mysterious will and thus boldly declared about Jesus’ explanation of His own future crucifixion, “God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You” (Matthew 16:22, NASB). No sooner had Peter uttered His disgust with the plan of God than Jesus turned to Peter and proclaimed, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man” (Matthew 16:23, ESV).
Notice the underlying similarity but weighty and stark difference between the petition of Peter and Jesus. Both Peter and Jesus were troubled by the thought of the Son of God suffering so horrendously. However, the difference is critical. While Peter acted completely out of human flesh and thinking without giving room for God’s unfathomable will, Jesus submitted His pain and reluctance to His Father in order that God would get His way – which is the best way by infinite measure!
When I thought about the prayer of Jesus in the Garden, I pondered my own prayer life. So often we Christians begin prayers like this, “Dear God, I ask you to . . .” And then follows a list of items we present to God – things or circumstances we desire. We often give no thought to whether these things are God’s will, sometimes even foolishly believing God intends to spare us from all pain. We ask for relief as we see it and expect it. Instead, we ought to express our sorrow and anxious thoughts to God, and then we need to ask God to dominate any plan of ours with His perfect and mysterious will. If the Son of God prayed that God’s plan would override the desires of His humanity when the two were in disagreement, then we certainly should as well!
When Jesus instructed His disciples on prayer, He expressed at the outset in definitive terms that three things are priority for sure: God’s name is great above all and to be held in highest honor, God’s eternal kingdom is to come and take priority over human plans, and God’s will is to be done on this earth where our feet tread each day (see Matthew 6:9-10). We are not taught by Jesus to pray for human passions unless these longings glorify God’s name and press His kingdom forward in a world of much darkness. Prioritized over all is the ongoing will of God.
We must ask ourselves a difficult but essential question, “Am I praying for the glory and will of God or for the avoidance of anything my flesh deems difficult? Humanists place people above any supernatural being. Humanists trust in the thinking of people to solve our every dilemma. Christians place God above the will of humans. Christians trust in God’s sovereign plan to make life what it should be – even when pain is part of the picture. So I ask myself, “Am I praying as a humanist? Or as a Christian?”