Stop Praying Just Prayers

There are a few things I believe we just need to stop doing. The NFL just needs to stop with the throwback jerseys. They’re ugly. No one likes them. The airline industry just needs to stop with the stunt pilot airshows. Planes crash. Pilots die. And the church just needs to stop praying just prayers.

It’s not what you think. Obviously we shouldn’t stop praying for justice. Justice is part of God’s immutable, unchangeable image. Justice is a good thing Christians should strive for and pray for. What I mean is we just need to stop praying prayers with the word “just” in them. I know, God knows what we mean when we pray, so if we use the word “just”, he’s ok with it. It’s just a pet peeve of mine.

Man-Praying-folding-handsBut it’s easier said than done. In the first two paragraphs of this post, I intentionally used the word “just” several times. We’ve gotten so used to it, we hardly notice anymore. But the word “just” minimizes what we are saying, and praying. It’s sloppy language that dilutes the meaning of what we say. Here’s an example.

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