"You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God."
The objection in many people's heart (and in mine) to the end of verse two is answered here in verse three. The objection goes like this: "Wait a second! I have desires, perhaps even passionate ones, and I've asked God for them, but I've not received what I've asked for." Verse three clarifies that it's not enough to just perform the act of asking. I have to ask the right way. Christ is concerned with my motives not just my actions. Christ wants heart obedience, not just external conformity. When I pray, it should not be motivated by selfish indulgence. Such requests reflect spiritual adultery in our hearts. We are elevating our desires over God's will.
The passage takes a surprising turn here. It's easy to see how spiritual adultery relates to how we asked for things. But how does worldliness fit into what was being talked about here. The end of chapter three, where worldly wisdom is discussed taught that "jealousy and selfish ambition" display a worldly wisdom. Therefore, self-indulgent prayer is worldly in nature. And yet the phrase "friendship with the world" is still somewhat puzzling. Why is it said that way? Perhaps to get us thinking relationally, knowing that worldliness puts us in a position of enmity with God.
It makes sense then, that those kind of prayers wouldn't be answered either. If the way we ask someone for something puts us at odds with him, it's unlikely that we will get what we want. But here it's not just that we rub God the wrong way. We actually are making ourselves His enemy. Of course, those kinds of requests will not be granted.
No comments:
Post a Comment