Thoughts And Prayers Vs Actions And Deeds

Kevin Sorbo, professional imbecile, recently tweeted this.

“In order to be more accepting of my atheist friends, I’ve decided not to send thoughts and prayers in times of trouble, but hypotheses and research.”

This is known in the business as a self-pwn, but for those of you in the cheap seats -- and I include Kevin’s solitary brain cell in that -- thoughts and prayers do bupkis for people.

Get off your ass and help.

I'm all for prayer.  I look to Jesus' model prayer (commonly called The Lord's Prayer) as a template:

“Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

“Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.

“Give us this day our daily bread.

“And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.

“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.” (Matthew 6:9-13 KJV)  

For those who need it broken down more clearly:

• Acknowledge God 

• Desire for His will to be done on earth 

• Ask for our daily needs to be met 

• Treat us the same way we treat others

• Steer us away from temptation 

• Protect us from evil

• Close by acknowledging God again

Notice what's sitting smack dab in the middle of all that?

A booby trap.

"And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors." 

The prayer calls down God's judgment on us:  "Do to us what we do to others".  

Jesus follows his model prayer with this warning:  “For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:  But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.”

If we forgive debts, or transgressions, or sins against us, no sweat; God will forgive us as well.

If we don't forgive, guess what...?

The prayer starts by stating a desire for God's will to be done.  And what is God's will?  "What doth the Lord require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God?"  (Micah 6:8 KJV)

Jesus took one of his carpentry hammers and smacked this nail square on the head with the parable of the sheep and the goats found in Matthew 25:31-46.  "Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me." vs "Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.

"And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal."

Now clearly there are times and circumstances where we can't do anything other than feel sympathy for those afflicted.  If we read about a village in India getting wiped out by a flash flood, there's not a thing we can do to help those who have already drowned in the catastrophe except feel sympathy in our thoughts and prayers, hearts and minds.

On the other hand, if there's a pandemic in our community, we can wear a mask and practice social distancing until it's brought under control, if the power grid fails in our state and we're duly elected officials we can stay on the job and try to organize relief, if we know somebody is sick and needs financial or food help then the least we can do is send 'em a few bucks or buy 'em a burger.

That's why I say thoughts and prayer don't do jack for 3rd parties.  They only help the one offering the prayer if the supplicant follows through on the prayer with action that helps others.

Otherwise it's just what Jesus called "vain repetition"

You want to see the hand of God in action, look at the end of your wrist.

“Faith without works is dead”. 

BTW: What kind of God needs prodding from us to do the right thing? 

© Buzz Dixon