#635. Praying that God will fix a situation as long as you’re not part of the solution.

Recently, I found myself in a bit of a dilemma. I have a friend who is making bad decisions. They are the kind of decisions he will regret one day if the fog clears. They are the kind of decisions that are painful to watch. They are the kind of decisions that I myself made and suffered for.

And so, being the friend I am, I have been praying for him. Most of my prayers look roughly like this:

“Dear God, please surround my friend with positive influences. Cover him in love. Comfort him in this difficult time and remind Him how much you love and care for him.”

Now clearly I left out some key phrases in that prayer. There are a few things missing …

I didn’t say the word “just” one time.

I didn’t ask God to “love on” him.

I didn’t ask for a hedge of protection or let God know that my friend was backsliding or that God needed to rain down on him.

I left out a lot of things, but ultimately the thing I really left out was what is secretly bubbling in my heart sometimes:

“God, I ask that you accomplish all these things in my friend’s life as long as it doesn’t involve me in anyway. I pray that you will surround him with love as long as that whole ‘surrounding situation’ doesn’t involve me making a phone call or going out to dinner with him or anything like that.”

I didn’t say that to God, but I should have, because that’s where my heart is often. I want God to surround this guy with positive influences, as long as one of them is not named “Jon Acuff.” I want God to comfort this friend as long as that comfort is not expressed in the form of us having a long phone call or cup of coffee. I want God to remind him he is loved as long as I’m not the vehicle for that reminder.

I mean come on, I’m really busy. I’ve got so much going on. I’m a really important blogger. I’d love to help God, I would, but look at my schedule! I’ve got a family and a full time day job. I haven’t even had time to get rid of my unibrow. I’m that busy! I’m too slammed right now writing a Christian blog and speaking to groups on the topic of community and how we should love people in God’s name and oh … dangit.

I can’t blog about the need to love people and then not love people.

I can’t pretend people matter to me and then not spend time doing the stuff that matters to people.

I can’t pray for a miracle I’m not willing to be part of.

This is a ridiculous phenomenon, asking God to accomplish things just as long as they don’t involve you. That is the kind of thing that my friends who use the word postmodern to describe everything from scholarly papers to pancakes would probably say, “how pomo of you.”

Hopefully, as you’ve read this post you’ve thought, “That sinner. That filthy heathen Jon. What a sucky friend. I am so glad I don’t suffer from that.” But if you do, if you’re even a smidge like me, let’s reexamine our prayers and see if what we’re praying and what we’re living aren’t lining up.

And then, after we’ve done that, after we’ve looked at our prayers and our lives, let’s breakdance in joy that we’ve got a savior who never stops saving us from our own silliness.

Have you ever done this?