Wisdom's Corner
No Vain Repetitions

At the time Christ lived the Greeks believed in many gods. They thought that these gods were not really interested in man. They believed their gods were too busy with their own interests and problems. So the Greeks would pray the same thing over and over and over. They thought the gods would get tired of hearing their prayers and would finally give them what they wanted just to get rid of them.

The Hindus believe saying the name of a god is worship. And they believe saying the name takes away sin. So they will repeat saying the names of god over and over and over, thinking this will take away all of their sins.

God said we are not to be like those who believe in such things (Matthew 6:7-8). When we pray we are not to use vain repetitions. The word 'vain' means empty or useless. For the Greeks, the repetitions were vain because they did not think that their gods were really interested in helping them. For the Hindus, the repetitions were vain because they thought that just saying a name would get rid of their sins. And for both of them, the repetitions were vain because they were not praying to the One True God.

When we pray, we know that God cares about us. He knows what we need. He loves us and wants the best for us. And we know if we are living right according to His law, we can have forgiveness of our sins if we ask Him for such.

Study the Bible. Learn what God wants you to do. Pray to God with confidence. Never use vain repetitions. Until next time, get the wisdom of God and if any of this is hard to understand, ask an adult to help you.

Mark McWhorter

Copyright 1999

Published by The Old Paths Bible School
(http://www.oldpaths.org)