How does Paul’s prayer for the Colossians compare with our prayers for ourselves, our families, and our friends? Do our prayers reflect a concern for God’s will and God’s glory and a desire that our lives will be pleasing to God? Or are our prayers more of a to-do-list we present to God, asking Him to intervene in the various health and financial needs of family and friends. Now, it is not wrong to bring these temporal needs to God. In fact, that’s one way we can acknowledge our daily dependence on Him. But if that’s all we pray about, we are merely treating God as a “divine bellhop.” Our prayers are essentially human-centered, not God centered, and in that sense we are ungodly to some degree.
– Jerry Bridges, Respectable Sins
