It Isn't Magic

Magic is (the attempt at) human control of the supernatural. Although there are some magical beliefs intermixed with Christianity, there is no magic in true Christianity.

Becoming a Christian doesn't confer any magical powers. It confers no ability to control God, angels, or any other supernatural beings.

Magical thinking enters when a Christian treats prayer like a magical incantation. If I say these words and believe hard enough, then I'll get what I want.

Unfortunately, some churches even teach this kind of thinking: there is a "name it and claim it" school of thought. Such teaching misleads believers and sets Christianity up for ridicule by non-believers.

Even without such teaching, our own pride leads us into attempting to practice magic, to control God.

Prayers that instruct God on what he should do and how he should do it are attempts to control the supernatural, i.e., attempts at magic.

A moment's thought should show that telling God what he should do is dangerously foolish (and maybe foolishly dangerous). Do we really think we know better than God does what would be best in a given situation?

We are invited to pray to God, to place our requests (not commands) before him, to share our burdens and desires with him. To pray is to ask. We are invited to ask for the blessings we need, to ask for the desires of our hearts.

If we come humbly before him, God will refine our desires. He then will take these purified desires and act on them in the way that is best for everyone involved.

We dont' know what that looks like. We can't see the whole. We can't even see ourselves clearly.

What God wants for us is not strenuous exertion of our wills, but quiet submission of our desires to him.

Submission to God's will is neither passive nor mindless. It is an active, prayerful, desire to live in agreement with God, which is living in agreement with all that is good and true.

As long as we want to be in control, as long as we want to do God's job, he will let us try. He'll let us wave our magic wands as long as we want to, but there really is no magic.

The mystery, which is real, is that God actually exists and actually is acting all of the time, here, and now, and everywhere.

He is working in and through everything that is, in and through every person and situation.

He is working to draw every single person to himself, in love and forgiveness.

Ultimately, this is the goal of all of creation: the salvation of mankind, the return of man to the company of God.

God is acting for the deep good of everyone, everywhere. It is our job to learn to recognize his leadings and to follow him into the mystery.