If You Really Care About the Issues of the Day, Pray!

I think everyone’s brain has been extra taxed these last several months. There’s been so much to think about, to learn about, to care about — all on top of numerous normal-life concerns. 

And it’s my guess that we’ve all found ourselves passionate about one (or more) of these issues along the way. Right, isn’t there some topic that gets you fired up? (Among the bijillion to choose from.) It’s that topic that not only fires you up, but swirls around in your head demanding a kind of focus normal issues don’t require.

We all demonstrate our concern for the problems of the day in different ways…

Some are readers…they devour any material related to the issue. 

Some are discussers…they love to dialogue about the important issues of the day. 

Some are ranters … they make sure to let the world know what’s important to them. 

Some are thinkers… they mull over the issues incessantly. 

Some are complainers… they can’t help verbalizing the negative things they see. 

And some of us are like “mutts” — not of a particular breed, instead our passions are displayed in any combination of ways. 

But all of us, regardless of what breed we are, we should be pray-ers! Avid pray-ers. We should put more energy into that activity than we do any of the others. I mean, if we seriously care about the issues enough to read about them, discuss them, rant about them, think about them, complain about them — we should be seriously praying about them! If we don’t, what does that say about us? Or what does it say about the importance of our passions?

Prayerless Passion 

I can only guess why we sometimes show obvious concern for a matter, yet don’t pray much about it. Or at least don’t pray as much as we ought. 

It might all come down to the fact that prayer is hard work. It takes focus. It takes patience and humility. Perhaps many of us don’t pray as much as we ought (personally, guilty as charged) because we don’t discipline our spirit enough to slow down and communicate with God. 

Or maybe, we don’t actually care about the issues as much as we think we do; we just like the feeling of being passionate about something. As a fireball teen, this was me. Getting on the bandwagon of some cause is exhilarating, it gives your days purpose. But bandwagon or not, if you aren’t compelled to pray more than you read/rant/discuss/complain etc., you’re probably not driven by godly compassion, or godly concern, or godly wisdom. You might just like being a fireball.

Or sadly, we don’t pray because we don’t think of God as highly as we ought. We forget he’s the one who accomplishes lasting change in people. He’s the one who rights all the wrongs. He’s the one who can use all the bad in this world for good. We forget who’s in charge and we take things into our own hands in whatever way we can. 

It’s Time To Pray

If we really see a problem in our world, if we really care— God is the first one we should go to; he knows the best solutions, and he’s the one with all power to change whatever ought to be changed. And even if God doesn’t change things, we draw near to him because he will help us walk through these days filled with heavy issues. 

Of course Philippians 4:6-7 comes to mind — reminding us that we should pray about everything. All our concerns should be brought to God. And as we do, any anxiety, any bubbling up passionate emotion will be kept in check because the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard our hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus (Philippians 4:7).

All in all, prayer is where we need to go when we find ourselves passionate about something. We should go there first. We can still be readers, and discussers, and thinkers… though we should be cautious with our ranting… and let’s be honest, we should quit our complaining. But there’s no limit to praying —so if we truly care about something, let’s be pray-ers! Avid pray-ers.