Stop Praying

For here the saying holds true, “One sows and another reaps.” John 4:37

A good friend and I have a recovery meeting which we regularly invite others to join. In particularly, we often invite guys from our jail Bible study, who often promise they will come when they get out, but they rarely do. This can be frustrating. We feel we’re doing God’s will, but we don’t often see the results we’d like.

Once, as we were lamenting the apparent poor outcomes of our labors, we were both reminded of where we’d been just a few years earlier. Where we’d once followed ourselves to disaster, we’re now being obedient to God’s will. What did the results matter? What is truly important, is that we we’ve found faith and recovery and are attempting to lead others to the same. We’re not responsible for their response. That’s God’s job. We’re simply responsible for being obedient.

In today’s passage, Jesus taught this principle, One sows and another reaps. It is our place to be obedient to God’s will. We’re not responsible for the results. We’re simply responsible to share God’s love with those around us. Maybe we see amazing outcomes and maybe we don’t. The miracle of change that we always get to see, is what happens in our own lives when we’re obedient. That is where our responsibility lies.

Jesus taught that obedience is the food that fuels our spiritual lives. So many times, in my own addiction, I refused to obey, while I continued to pray for transformation. I begged and begged God to change me, but I refused to do anything and so, nothing changed.

One sows and another reaps. Inherent in this statement is the understanding that we’re all supposed to be doing something. Doing nothing is simply not an option. Often, as Christians though, we sit back, doing nothing, but we pray. We pray for our struggle without changing anything. We pray for our neighbors needs without lifting a finger to help them.

I’m not actually suggesting that we stop praying. I’m just insisting that when we use prayer as an excuse to do nothing, we’re doing it wrong. If we truly follow Christ, we must do. We’re not responsible for the outcome, we’re only responsible for being obedient. Whether we sow or reap, it is in our obedience that we truly find faith, life, and recovery.