I watched as two men walked away from each other.  One man sheepishly waved goodbye and said, “We should get together sometime” while the other man seemed to echo, “yeah, let’s do that.”  The insincerity of the words felt so stiff and rigid that the second man told me, “Cold day before we get together.”  No one likes insincerity, but it is especially wrong when it is put forth in a manner like “I have your best interests in mind” when I really don’t.

Insincerity truly hurts, and it is the steppingstone to hypocrisy.  It makes people guarded and makes the insincere person seem untrustworthy.

So today, let’s talk about what feels like Christian insincerity – or perhaps we could call it “arms-length Christianity” especially in the area of prayer.   Just for a moment, imagine yourself as someone who is hurting, scared or troubled.  You take a risk and tell someone your concerns.  Which would you prefer as a response:

Someone who tells you, “I’ll pray for you.”  Or someone who stops what they are doing, and says right then and there, “Let’s pray.”

The “let’s pray” not only feels more sincere, but it allows us to join with another person as we pray to our God and King.  Jesus even told us, “Where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” ^{Matthew 18:20 NIV}  Yes, Jesus is with us right then and there.  This is an opportunity to make our faith come alive.

It’s not that “I’ll pray for you” is wrong or necessarily insincere, but it certainly is a weak and lonely choice, compared to joining with Jesus and another person in prayer.

And when we pray, all we need to say is “Dear Jesus thank you for being here with my friend, right now.  Thank you for loving us so very much.”   We don’t need to say any more than that.  Just let Jesus do the rest.

With all this in mind, let’s pray, “Dear Jesus thank you for being here with us right now.  Thank you for loving all of us so very much.”

Jesus himself loved to pray and loves it when we talk to him and our heavenly Father.  Maybe today would be a great day to call someone you are thinking about, and simply ask them, “Would it be okay if we said a prayer together!”