No, I don’t think praying for small stuff trivializes God at all. If He really is sovereign over every atom in the universe (and He is), then it doesn’t belittle Him to recognize that. I think it would be more dismissive of God if we thought, acted, and prayed as if somehow He couldn’t (or wouldn’t) do anything to help us with the small stuff. I don’t think there is anything trivializing about saying, “Lord, help me find my keys.” In fact, I think there could be something very child-like and faith-full in that prayer.

So what rubs wrong about the Osteen stuff? In my opinion, it’s that the parking-space prayer is just one more brick in the wall of what looks very much like an entire ministry of trivialities. I read the New York Times article, and though it would be unfair to judge the man by one single article, it looks like Osteen’s not interested much in the things that make Christianity Christianity. The article even says he skirts the issues of sin and suffering. What about the cross? Wonder if he skirts that, too.

It’s one thing if J. I. Packer prays for the Lord to help him find his keys, because you know that’s just one part of a faith that takes the majestic God very seriously.  I just wonder if, for Joel Osteen, it simply doesn’t get much more serious than the car keys.  Let’s pray that’s not the case, because the man preaches to 40,000 people every week.

Here’s Al Mohler on Osteen. 

Posted in Devotional, Theology & Doctrine |