Ah, winter! Time to sit down with a cup of hot herbal tea and read up on gardens for the springtime.
Much of the latest gardening information is written by people who do not have a knowledge of the Lord. The “New Age” philosophy is so rampant in gardening circles, it’s almost like kudzu choking out the good plants.
We are instructed by this false philosophy to talk to plants, to thank them for producing, and to recycle unused parts of vegetables because they wish to again become part of “Mother Earth.”
The Bible does not speak of a Mother Earth, but it has a lot to say about Father God, and his Son Jesus. We are told that nothing was created without Jesus (John 1:3).
We ask for and then thank God for our daily food (Luke 11:3), but we don’t thank the food itself. We recycle because of the example God gave Adam and Eve to take care of their environment (Genesis 2:15), not because the organic material knows or cares.
Oh, you might catch me talking to the plants; but if you ever see me carrying on a whole conversation with them, you have my permission to call the nice young men in their clean white suits to come and take me away.
The scriptures are very clear on who we are to worship, and prayer is a form of worship.
“You shall have no other gods before Me” (Exodus 20:3, NASB).
One might well be puzzled at some of the wording used by people when discussing prayer, however. It could be just a misspoken figure of speech; but I’ve heard on a dozen or more occasions where a prayer was offered to a person in need of prayer, instead of for that person.
“Prayers to the people of Paris.” “Prayers to your family in your time of loss.” “Prayers to this sick little girl.”
Go ahead and call me a grammar Nazi, but we seriously need to be careful here with our words.
The marginally Christianized world is content with sending thoughts and good vibes, thinking that it might remedy a bad situation. I don’t see a lot in the Scriptures about “vibes,” do you?
Could we be allowing some of this mentality to creep into our thought processes? Good thoughts, unexpressed to the omnipotent Creator, are just good wishes; nothing more. Prayers to a sick child are at best good thoughts, and at worst idolatry.
Thinking about prayer is not prayer. Sending prayerful wishes is not prayer. Promising to pray and then forgetting to do so is not prayer. Talking to the Father in heaven is prayer!
The misuse of the word “to” might not really indicate an intent to worship another being besides Jehovah. It could, however, mean that the prayerful thoughts expressed never got to be expressed to the mighty God who can DO something about the situation.
It is a very kind and sympathetic thing to be prayerful and thoughtful over the many hurts that this life throws at our friends and neighbors. But don’t stop there! Prayer is powerful. Actual prayer, that is. To God.
I might wish that my irises recover from the fungus infecting them. I might even pray about it to the God who created them. But I will never, ever plead with the irises to grow and flourish. We can’t send prayers to a person in need. They won’t make that person well.
That’s a job for God. He wants to hear from us!
“Pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17).