Every now and then there is a saying among Christian circles that, I must confess, drives me crazy.
One
that I thought had died off but seems to be gaining new life is the
phrase, “I covet your prayers.” We all know what is meant by this, but
do we have to phrase it this way?
I’m
pretty sure I know how this phrase got into circulation. In the book,
“The Tipping Point” by Malcolm Gladwell, he writes about how social fads
begin. They start when someone of influence says or does something
that is perceived as innovative. This could be anything from a simple
catch phrase to wearing a pair of old-fashioned Hush Puppies shoes to a
swank gathering. When the innovation is introduced, it will pick up
steam if there are other influencers who get influenced by the
innovation. Then, those influencers go to their spheres of influence
and begin to replicate the innovation. If this pattern repeats itself,
it creates a new social fad.
So
let’s get back to the phrase, “I covet your prayers.” Most likely,
someone of influence used this phrase in a gathering of other
influential people. Those influential people were impacted by this
innovative phrase that gave a new sense of urgency to prayer. Then,
they went to their own spheres of influence and began using the phrase.
From there, other people of influence picked up on the phrase and it
eventually became standard vernacular for Christian communities.
But
here’s my problem . . . since coveting is obviously one of the big
no-no’s of the Ten Commandments, how did this ever become a “Christian”
phrase? This makes about as much sense as me saying, “I am lusting
after the young people in my community to come to Christ!” Or how about,
“I have a murderous desire to teach the Word of God.” Both of these
latter examples do a good job of describing a particular sentiment, but
we would all agree they are not appropriate. If these latter examples
are not appropriate, how can the former phrase be appropriate? It
isn’t.
My
next question is . . . when Christians use this phrase, do they think
about the biblical definition of “covet” and misuse it anyway or are
they simply repeating “Christian” verbiage without any thought process?
Whatever the answers may be, they are both bad.
No comments:
Post a Comment