I’m slow on the uptake sometimes.
Last October, many of you rated Paul Miller’s book A Praying Life as one of your current favorite books. I’m just now getting around to reading it. And it’s messing with me. In a good way.
What’s brilliant about this book is that it’s gospel-centered… no… gospel saturated. Miller pulls together weakness (or helplessness) as the common thread between believing the gospel and prayer.
“The gospel, God’s free gift of grace in Jesus, only works when we realize we don’t have it all together. The same is true for prayer. The very thing we are allergic to – our helplessness – is what makes prayer work. It works because we are helpless. We can’t do life on our own. Prayer mirrors the gospel.”
This truth is exploding in my heart. My primary issue is not that I don’t pray enough. My primary issue is that I don’t realize how truly helpless I am. Helpless to do what? Everything. Be a good husband. Love my kids well. Plant a church. Be a faithful pastor. Grow as a disciple.
“We tell ourselves, ‘Strong Christians pray a lot. If I were a stronger Christian, I’d pray more.’ Strong Christians do pray more, but they pray more because they realize how weak they are. They don’t try to hide it from themselves. Weakness is the channel that allows them to access grace.”
“Weakness is the channel that allows them to access grace.”
And that, in a nutshell, is it. I have been trying to hide from myself how weak I truly am. I am not meant or designed to be the best, most insightful, wisest, kindest, most creative… dad/husband/pastor/speaker. I cannot do the task set out before me. If I really know and believe this, I will cry out to my Father for his divine resources. Constantly.
I am weak. Are you?
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