Sometime within the last couple of years the onslaught against “thoughts and prayers” became oppressive. It’s almost dangerous to say such a thing out in public or social media these days, with anecdotes of venom against those who dare. As Christians, however, I don’t think we need to be afraid, as long as we keep some things in mind.
First, many of those who take offense to offerings of thoughts and prayers seem mostly to come from the unbelieving set. It should not surprise us at all that such a one would take offense. While we affirm the power of prayer, an unbeliever has no set anchor to prayer or to our God to whom those prayers are addressed. In their minds, joy and hardship are not rooted in anything spiritual and our affirmation otherwise is the offence of the gospel.
What is far too obvious in their minds, however, is the second point I want to make. Unbelievers see action and inaction very clearly – and, let’s be honest, many of those who have so cavalierly offered their thoughts and prayers to the suffering, especially in the public forum, also don’t seem to have much faith as it is biblically defined. I am mindful of James 2:14-17. James writes, “What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone says they have faith but not works? Can that faith save them? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is it? So also, faith alone, if it does not have works, is dead.”
That’s what I think the main complaint against “thoughts and prayers” really is. Unbelievers see too much talk and not enough action among those who profess to be God’s children. When folks offer these and chose not to act, they are, in essence, abandoning their duty to serve by kicking it up to God when all the while God wants action.
And that leads to the third point. It is very true that sometimes situations are so out of our ability or understanding of how to help that all we can do is pray. But besides that, as a believer, I know prayer should come first and foremost, even before situations develop. We should swim in prayer, knowing God holds answers to questions we haven’t even thought to ask. When we do that, we won’t be caught off guard by the world’s madness and will have a much greater chance of knowing exactly what needs doing when it needs done. Now imagine; What do we think the impact will be when non-believers see us acting in justice, mercy, and humility, speaking to their pain in actual work, and not fearing to sweat when trouble comes? What happens when we then tell them we’ve been praying all along? The world will then covet our prayers indeed.
As to “thoughts,” maybe that’s not so defensible after all….
For those unbelievers who know me well my prayers do not offend them. They know my beliefs and they know it is the highest form of intervention I possess. They know my actions if I have more than comfort is there when they need them. They know I pray for them to know God and I pray for the spirits intervention. They also know I will respect them as a person who makes there own choices. I think the trick of not offending is to be an actual friend to unbelievers just as our Jesus was, to not judge them but accept them as future christians and to have patience that there journey to Jesus may take years. Fellow Christians have the toolset of Jesus in times of hardship, non christians need us to show them the toolset of Jesus.
Well said!