Prayer

Recently, I have been reading a book by Scot McKnight called Jesus Creed. It's not a new book, but it's a good read. The short version of the Creed is "love God and love others". McKnight also shares some good teaching about how the "Lord's Prayer" relates to the creed. McKnight's message is about living the words of Jesus. Here's a quote that stuck in my heart:

"Prayer does not stop with the "Amen". It rises to its feet and walks off, with our built up yearning turned into action."

In particular, I like how McKnight describes what happens (or what should happen) when we pray: "built up yearning". In other words, our prayer life should create a fire within our hearts. It is a craving to love God and love others that is difficult to suppress. Too often we do not connect our prayer with our passion to live for God. Perhaps if the yearning is not there, we should pray more. If our prayer does not rise to its feet - maybe it should stay on its knees a little longer. Good thoughts for a Monday. Since it is Monday, I'll go ahead and substitue "sermon" for prayer. The sermon must not end with the "Amen" on Sunday. It rises to its feet on Monday and walks off with a yearning for action.