I am convinced the main requirement in prayer is honesty, approaching God “just as we are.” Nonetheless, many prayers labor under a Luther-like pall of inferiority. We feel guilty, or unfocused, or irritable, and assume those negative feelings will disqualify us from God’s attention, as if God only listens to good people. Until we come to terms with an ornery classmate, we think — or straighten out a bad marriage, or stop yelling at the kids, or conquer the addiction that fetters us like a ball and chain — we don’t deserve to pray. Consequently we turn away from the only source of forgiveness
...more
