I know a lot about lazy preachers, at times being one myself. Every \u201cprayer of a lazy preacher\u201d below I have probably prayed in one way or another, to one degree or other.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s easy to point at do-nothing pastors as being the anomaly and call for them to leave the ministry and stop being a blight on the name of the Lord. But in truth, many of us who work hard and long in serving Him are basically lazy and have to fight the urge to vegetate all the time. And, don\u2019t be surprised if some of the real over-achievers found in the Lord\u2019s work fight the same battles and are always working to compensate for those Beetle Baileyish desires to rest and then rest some more.<\/p>\n
Consider these prayers of a lazy preacher..<\/strong>..<\/p>\n 1) \u201cLord, give me a great text for tomorrow\u2019s sermon, one no one else has ever noticed before and a clever interpretation of it, one no one else would have ever seen.\u00a0 No rush. Just in the next hour since we leave for the ball game at six. Amen.\u201d<\/p>\n 2) \u201cLord, I pray for Mrs. Jackson there in the ICU. Please let her live just a little longer so I can enjoy the ball game tonight. I promise to (ahem) try to see her tomorrow sometime so the family won\u2019t feel I\u2019ve failed them. Thank you.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 3) \u201cDear Lord, please don\u2019t let anyone die this weekend or have a bad emergency.\u00a0 With the family coming in for my graduation, my mama would not understand if I have to leave the dinner to make a pastoral visit. Amen.\u201d<\/p>\n 4) \u201cHere am I, Lord, send Aaron.\u201d (The wonderful Jill Briscoe wrote a book by that clever title.)\u00a0 This is a variation of the lazy layperson\u2019s prayer: \u201cLord, I pray you will use the pastor to reach this world for Christ, but not mess with me or my busy schedule in the process.\u201d<\/p>\n 5) \u201cGod bless all the missionaries and all whom it\u2019s our duty to pray for.\u201d\u00a0 A friend says this is praying \u201cwholesale,\u201d instead of \u201cretail.\u201d<\/p>\n 6) \u201cForgive me in advance\u201d (for not studying, not forgiving, not visiting the sick, whatever it is I am determined not to do). This is praying presumptively, something David prayed against in Psalm 19.<\/p>\n 7) \u201cLord, I\u2019ll do that just as soon as\u2026.\u201d (complete the sentence however you need to, most often with something like: \u201cas soon as I finish this novel,\u201d \u201cget the energy,\u201d \u201cthis program is over,\u201d or \u201cI feel led.\u201d<\/p>\n Finally, my brethren…<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019ve racked my brain trying to think of a preacher in Scripture who would qualify as lazy and who might contribute something worthwhile to this discussion. The only one that comes to mind, and not everyone agrees with this, is when the disciples in the Upper Room prayed, “Lord, show us which of these two men you have chosen as the next apostle” (my paraphrase of Acts 1:24-25).\u00a0 Is that a lazy prayer?\u00a0 It could be, or a hasty one.\u00a0 Seems to me the Lord was preparing Saul of Tarsus for that coveted role, and the disciples were running ahead of the Lord.\u00a0 It’s as though they were saying, “While we’re sitting here in the Upper Room waiting for the coming of the Holy Spirit, let’s do something profitable with our time.”\u00a0 Not a good thing.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I know a lot about lazy preachers, at times being one myself. Every \u201cprayer of a lazy preacher\u201d below I have probably prayed in one way or another, to one degree or other. It\u2019s easy to point at do-nothing pastors … Continue reading