Today’s word came in an interesting way. I was ruminating on what to post today and it all came together when I was browsing through the book The Life You Always Wanted by John Ortberg. I came across a word with which I wasn’t entirely clear: unctuous.
The section I was reading from was “The Power of Prayer”. I first underlined the phrase “Prayer changes things.” And those three words resonated with me when I highlighted and again today as I reread the phrase. Prayer changes things. Is that not a humbling thought? Does that not make you want to hit your knees in the prayer closet? If I could just read those three words each morning I think it might do us all quite a bit of good.
Further down in the section, Ortberg quotes Walter Wink and herein we find our word of the day:
“The fawning etiquette of unctuous prayer is utterly foreign to the Bible. Biblical prayer is impertinent, persistent, shameless, indecorous. It is more like haggling in an oriental bazaar than the polite monologues of the churches.”
I got the general meaning but what is this unctuous prayer that is foreign to the Bible exactly?
Fatty and oily don’t seem to fit the meaning. Plastic either. And full of unction is probably it but what does unction mean exactly?
3b I think hits what Wink was after: “exaggerated, assumed, superficial.” In other words, prayer isn’t superficial. It’s not the fancy, ornate, empty prayer from the stage. Neither is it a handful of flippant phrases thrown at the ceiling from the bed in hopes of checking the task off for the day. It’s real. And it changes things.
So let us hit our knees today and let our prayers not be unctuous, but fervent and expectant.
“Prayer changes things.” I’m not sure I’ve ever really thought about the power in that statement before. I talk to God throughout my day and pray during devotions, but I know I don’t spend time with God fervently in prayer as much as I’d like. And have I been unctuous? Guilty. Especially when I’m called on to pray at a meal or at my women’s group, etc. In public I’m not as authentic as when it’s just Him and me. I love that line about “haggling in an oriental bazaar.” Here’s to hoping I remember that tomorrow when my Father in law asks me to pray before dinner 🙂