Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
Psalm 51:10
Why is it so easy to focus on other people?
I talk often about God being at work, and I pray often for his activity. As I do that, though, I frequently find myself thinking about other people.
My prayers, in fact, often sound like this: God, you need to do something in that person's life! God, she needs a touch of your grace. God, you need to deal with him. God, they need your correction.
Perhaps I'm not the only one who prays that sort of thing. Sometimes, we sing, "Change my heart, O God." But we're really thinking about somebody else.
I talk often about God being at work, and I pray often for his activity. As I do that, though, I frequently find myself thinking about other people.
My prayers, in fact, often sound like this: God, you need to do something in that person's life! God, she needs a touch of your grace. God, you need to deal with him. God, they need your correction.
Perhaps I'm not the only one who prays that sort of thing. Sometimes, we sing, "Change my heart, O God." But we're really thinking about somebody else.
When we seek God's activity, it's important to remember that it always begins with us. The psalmist didn't pray that others might have a clean heart; he asked for God to give him one. The psalmist didn't see the need for others to have a new and right spirit; he admitted before God that need in his own life. And because that need was so great - and so obvious - the psalmist didn't have much time or energy left to worry about other people.
There is plenty of irony here. What we want God to do in the lives of the people around us is often exactly what God needs to do for us.
Does my friend need to be more forgiving - or is that what I need? Is my concern for my neighbor's anger a distraction that keeps me from thinking about my own? Do I pray that God will have his way with you while I avoid praying that he will have his way with me? Or do I pridefully claim that I'm already where I need to be? Do I focus on others because I know that letting God have his way with me might end up being painful and costly?
In all fairness, I want you to have a clean heart. I want you to have a new and right spirit. I want that deeply. But before I can meaningfully pray for that to happen, I need to be willing to let God do that very thing for me. And if I am not open to that, then my motives for wanting God to work in your life are pretty clear.
There is plenty of irony here. What we want God to do in the lives of the people around us is often exactly what God needs to do for us.
Does my friend need to be more forgiving - or is that what I need? Is my concern for my neighbor's anger a distraction that keeps me from thinking about my own? Do I pray that God will have his way with you while I avoid praying that he will have his way with me? Or do I pridefully claim that I'm already where I need to be? Do I focus on others because I know that letting God have his way with me might end up being painful and costly?
In all fairness, I want you to have a clean heart. I want you to have a new and right spirit. I want that deeply. But before I can meaningfully pray for that to happen, I need to be willing to let God do that very thing for me. And if I am not open to that, then my motives for wanting God to work in your life are pretty clear.
Create in me a clean heart, O God,
and put a new and right spirit within me.
and put a new and right spirit within me.
There's a lot more to pray. But that's a good beginning.