A Santa Claus God?
Bill Kinnon is becoming a must-read for me since I discovered his blog recently. He has good insights that I find to be well-thought out and incisive. Yesterday he re-posted an earlier post reflecting on the Prayer of Jabez. In it he wrote:

[I wrote a post earlier called What Lens?] that suggested that the best lens through which to read the Bible was the Cross. Unfortunately, we have so bent and twisted this lens that it now more accurately looks like a giant yellow M. We western (or westernized) Christians approach the Bible with the same sense of awe and wonder that we do the McDonalds drive through. Like children, we order our Happy Meal™ and expect instant gratification, with a free prize inside. "Let me have a 1 Chronicles 4:10 combo, with Isaiah 54:17 and an Ephesians 3:20 - no ice."

We approach God as we might Santa Claus. Climbing up on His knee, pulling his beard and telling Him all the things we want from His Big Book of Promises™. ...

Sadly, it would seem we would prefer to bring our own Western mindset to our understanding of the One who flung the stars into space. We prefer an anthropomorphized Father Christmas God who longs to give his kids good gifts - just as soon as we ask for them. (Of course, we have to know the right verses in the right order to unlock his gift-giving greatness.) But is this the God of the Bible?

I guess this post hit me where I am struggling, actually. We do so often approach God as if he were our personal servant. We want what we want when we want it and assume that when we don't get it, God didn't answer our prayers. What then is the place of prayer in our lives? How do we pray and why and how? Glib, easy answers can come, of course, but that doesn't satisfy about something as powerful as I know prayer is.

Which is why I just bought Philip Yancey's newest book, Prayer. Haven't had a chance to start it yet, but it is high on the soon-to-be-read list. Will keep you informed.

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Just For Fun
HT to Boing Boing for the link to this fun site: Indexed. Here's today's post: