The prayers of sinners, and taking up the Cross of Christ
At the heart of much of Christian practice and ritual is the long-lived tradition of praying to ask Jesus into life. Various prayers that identify one’s sinful nature and articulating a heartfelt request to ask Jesus to be the Lord of one’s life, asking Jesus to enter into one’s heart, or asking Jesus to take control over one’s life while delivering the individual from the bondage of sin permeate much of Christianity. The prayer has its merit but, by itself, is dangerously misguided, scripturally void, and theologically dangerous.
The presumption of asking Jesus into the heart, to become Lord of one’s life, and to forgive sin overlooks a fundamental principle of Biblical faith. Jesus does not need human permission to dwell in the heart. As the Son of God, Jesus is fundamentally part of the human heart. Jesus does not need human invitation to be the Lord of Life. As the One who is fully one with the Creator, Jesus is already the Lord of Life. Jesus does not need human permission to forgive sin. That guarantee was granted at the Cross of Calvary and sealed in the miracle of the Empty Tomb. To presume that Jesus needs human blessing to be Divine is narcissistic!
Such narcissistic prayers likely stem from the sin of fierce American independence, autonomy, and individuality. Much of American culture, including the distinctive brand of American Christianity, is rooted in the dreams of democracy, self-rule, and the importance of independence from authority. That freedom is understandably—and appropriately—understood as independent of governmental authority, but in populist religion is often transferred to Divine authority.
In contrast, the focus of the prayer is better served to open our own hearts to that which Jesus has already made real. In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus tells a beautiful parable about a farmer that spread seed. Some fell on rocky ground, some amid the weeds, and some in good soil. Two points are worth noting in this illustration. First, the ground did not pray to receive the seed, but the seed was received anyway. Secondly, the ground that produced God’s bounty was the ground that was open to receiving that which God provided. This serves as a valuable example for humanity. Our focus need not be on asking God in, but rather opening ourselves to that which God has already done.
In another contrast one must take into consideration the fact that nowhere in the Bible does it explicitly say that we need to ask Jesus into our hearts to be Good Christians. Rather, the measure of faith is to love neighbor as self, care for the least of these, feed, clothe, visit, and care for those in need, and to take up our own cross and follow Jesus. Revelation 3:20 implies that Christ is at the door knocking and waiting to be let in, but even here the biblical importance is not in the invitation, but rather the hardness of heart that chooses to bar the door. The presence is there and unchangeable. It is not Jesus that changes by coming in, but one’s own heart and life by welcoming God’s blessing as the reality that it already is.
Sinner’s Prayers and Roman Roads have value and serve their purpose as fundamental rituals and liturgies of worship, but they fall short in the Biblical call to truly take up the cross and follow Jesus. Asking Jesus into the heart may feel good in the moment, but Biblical faith requires far more than feel-good prayers and inspirational worship. In a world where hate, control, fear, war, violence, domination, mistrust, misogyny, nationalism, racism, sexism, classism, and the love of money dominate culture, we need more than prayers to ask Jesus in. The world needs Christians to take up Christ’s Cross and truly follow.
This article originally appeared on Carlsbad Current-Argus: The prayers of sinners, and taking up the Cross of Christ