Does Praying for Fun Count?

What two things do millions of people spend time doing and convincing others to do that many think is a waste of time? Vote and Pray.

Steve Levitt on the Freakonomics podcast of October 25th talks about voting turns around the idea that a person’s vote doesn’t make a difference. He argues people vote not to make a difference in the election result, but because it is fun.

…most people understand that their vote doesn’t really matter for the election, which is exactly why I said it’s only the not so smart people who vote because they’re actually going to influence the election. I think the reason most people vote, and the reason I occasionally vote is that it’s fun. It’s fun to vote, it’s expressive, and it’s a way to say the kind of person you are,…

What are your reasons for praying? Is it to effect the outcome of an event or to make a difference in the world? Here is an article reviewing some studies on the effectiveness of prayer on recovery from illness. It examines a lot of assumptions made by the studies, but doesn’t question that the purpose of prayer is to make a difference in outcome of events, in these cases, healing from surgery.

Four hundred years ago Francois de Fenelon taught that “Time spent in prayer is never wasted.” I like to tell folks that prayer is time spent with God. Understood this way a prayer is not a question to be answered, a magic method of control of events, or a vote for change. Prayer expresses the kind of person you are, one who spends time with God.

A prayerful life is not measured by how many things prayer changed, but by how the life which spent time in prayer was changed. Experiment with backing off the scientific approach to prayer, which measures results and keeps track of “answered prayer”. Instead be mindful of what kind of person you are when you are a person who prays, who spends time with God. Express what kind of person you are by voting for God by praying.

Matthew 6:5-6

“And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

The New Revised Standard Version, copyright 1989
by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council
of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America.
Used by permission. All rights reserved.