“Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one’s weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart.” –Mahatma Gandhi
Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz has received a lot of flak in the media recently over his public displays of Christian faith. A video showing members of the clergy laying hands on him and praying was particularly troubling for some. Many people get uneasy when they see politicians displaying their religious convictions in public. For that matter, any public display of religious faith downright scares some people.
Cruz isn’t the only American politician to receive criticism for displaying his faith in public. Presidents Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush were criticized at one time or another over openly displaying and discussing their faith.
I’m not here to support or reject Cruz. The American voters will take care of that. I’m just fascinated by the way religion scares so many people in our society. I understand there is reason to be concerned about politicians who become overzealous about their religion. But why should seeing a politician pray, hear them speak about the role of faith in their live or discuss sin cause concern?
Remember how many people mocked President George W. Bush for referring to terrorists as “evildoers?” Bush didn’t coin that term. It appears more than two dozen times in the Old and New Testaments. Psalm 92:9 (ESV) says, “For behold, your enemies, O Lord, for behold, your enemies shall perish; all evildoers shall be scattered.
I believe that somewhere deep inside every person, as a sentient being, holds the knowledge that we owe our existence to an omnipotent, omniscient creator. For many this knowledge resides at an unconscious level, but it has to be there nonetheless.
We were created in God’s image to glorify him and dwell in his presence. Acknowledging God requires one to admit that he/she is not in charge. This flies in the face of the concept of individuality and personal freedom that so permeates the American psyche. For those who refuse to acknowledge God, the deep seeded realization of God must be an unconscious source of conflict and discomfort—a deep down sense of one’s personal inadequacy and, dare I say, sense of personal sin.
Many people are repulsed by being called a sinner. Yet sin is a condition we all live in. Martin Luther described it eloquently in a letter to Philip Melanchthon on August 1, 1521:
“Be a sinner, and let your sins be strong, but let your trust in Christ be stronger, and rejoice in Christ who is the victor over sin, death, and the world. We will commit sins while we are here, for this life is not a place where justice resides. We, however, says Peter (2 Peter 3:13) are looking forward to a new heaven and a new earth where justice will reign. It suffices that through God’s glory we have recognized the Lamb who takes away the sin of the world. No sin can separate us from Him, even if we were to kill or commit adultery thousands of times each day. Do you think such an exalted Lamb paid merely a small price with a meager sacrifice for our sins? Pray hard for you are quite a sinner.”
Only when a person acknowledges his sinful nature God can begin to fully work inside him. What a pity so many fail to understand this. Christ’s church is full of sinners—and that’s exactly where sinners need to be!
Divine Simplicity 
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