Don’t compare
This is the fourth in a series of studies on the subject of prayer.
Don’t compare yourself with others…
Galatians 6:4 (ERV)
It is not uncommon for Christians to be dissatisfied with their prayer life, and that’s not surprising because prayer is not easy, as these testimonies show:
‘Everything we do in the Christian life is easier than prayer.’ (Martyn Lloyd-Jones) 1
‘May I but speak my own Experience, and from that tell you the difficulty of Praying to God as I ought…For, as for my heart, when I go to pray, I find it so reluctant to go to God, and when it is with him, so reluctant to stay with him, that many times I am forced in my Prayers; first to beg God that he would take mine heart, and set it on himself in Christ, and when it is there, that he would keep it there. In fact, many times I know not what to pray for, I am so blind, nor how to pray I am so ignorant…’ (Thomas Bunyan) 2
Why do faithful and dedicated Christians often feel guilty about their prayer lives? One of the reasons is that we compare ourselves with how other people pray. We look at another Christian and feel things like: ‘I wish I could pray like that’ or ‘I should pray as often and as long as this person does.’
Although the human tendency is to make comparisons with others, the Bible warns against such an approach: ‘We do not dare to classify or compare ourselves with some of those who commend themselves. But when they measure themselves by one another, and compare themselves with one another, they do not show good sense.’ (2 Corinthians 10:12 NRSVA).
When we compare ourselves with others one of two things will happen: we will either feel that our prayers are better than the prayers of other people and become vain and proud, or we will feel that our prayers are not as good, and so feel inferior or guilty.
So, let me suggest that as you develop your own prayer life you do not compare yourself to anyone else. Don’t feel obliged to follow a pattern of prayer used by others, but instead, find one that is right for you. Though we can learn from others, we must not allow their experiences to overshadow us, or allow us to become judgemental.
Paul tells us to ‘Always keep on praying.’ (1 Thessalonians 5:17 TLB). How we do that, we must work out for ourselves.
Prayer
Loving Father, thank you that we can learn from other Christians, but please guide us, dear Lord, to develop our own way of praying, not comparing how we pray with others. In Jesus’s name, Amen.
Study by Barry Robinson
1 The Difficulty of Prayer (and a solution) – Reformation 21
2 Ibid.
About the writer:
Barry Robinson is a minister in Grace Communion International and Regional Pastor for Southern England, the Midlands, and Wales
Local congregation:
Grace Communion West Hampstead
Sidings Community Centre
150 Brassey Road
West Hampstead
London
NW6 2BA
Meeting time:
Sunday 12.30 pm
Local congregational contact:
Gordon Brown
gordon.brown@gracecom.church
Word of Life contact:
wordoflife@gracecom.church