Just Pray

Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart. ~ Colossians 4:2 (NLT)

“Rub-a-dub-dub, thanks for the grub. Amen!” It’s a prayer that was offered up by none other than Bart Simpson. For those of you who don’t know who he is, Bart is a cartoon character from the TV show, The Simpsons, which is the longest running primetime show in television history. Bart’s character is a mischievous boy around the age of 10-12. Those famous, or infamous, words were offered up in prayer after Homer (his dad) asked Bart to pray for the food on the table in front of them. The prayer was definitely in fitting with the attitude of Bart’s character. Bart wasn’t into God. Actually, the whole family isn’t really into God. They go to church on an occasional episode, but it’s mostly to keep God from smiting them. (That’s what they believe, anyway.) When they pray, it’s because they’ve really screwed something up, or they need something from God.

The unfortunate reality is that a lot of us can relate to the Simpsons. We go to church out of some sort of obligation. We pray when we need something, or just to follow protocol before a meal. But, that’s about the extent of our faith journey.

I think that’s one of the reasons the Apostle Paul penned this verse. Paul noticed that some of the believers in Colosse were going through the motions, but weren’t really connecting with God in a real, meaningful way. Paul also realized the need to have a strong prayer life in order for our faith to grow and our relationship with Jesus to mature. But, we aren’t supposed to pray just when we need to get bailed out of a jam. As Paul says, “Devote yourselves to prayer with an alert mind and a thankful heart.”

Having a devoted prayer life means that it happens on a regular, continual basis. It also means that our prayer life should be intentional. No, “Rub-a-dub-dub” prayers. We should put thought into our prayers. Notice, Paul says to pray with an “alert mind,” not one that is focused on something else. We should not rush our prayers – as if they are somehow an inconvenience to our life. We should pray with a joyful heart, which means that we need to be giving thanks to God, for our friends, our family, our life, God’s grace, mercy, and love. In other words, we need to really spend quality, devoted time in prayer each and every day.