Cliche Christians

Christianity is one of those religions that has very cliche, overused phrases. To be honest, I am sick of them. I am not denying the truth behind them, because most of them are true (at least to an extent), but what I hate is how overused they are, and how often they are used without any thought. Some of these "pat" answers and phrases include, but are not limited to:
"God has a plan for you"
"Everything will work out"
"God loves you"
"Just Trust God!"
and finally, perhaps the most overused and most misunderstood, "Just keep praying!" (or a variation, "Pray about it"). There are hundreds more, feel free to comment and add more that you can think of, but you get the idea. It's frustrating that Christianity has devolved into catchphrases (as I mentioned in an earlier blog about Church Signs). I want to talk about the Prayer phrase in this blog..perhaps I will talk about another phrase another day, but today, it's all about prayer.
When I talk to people about my life, and tell them what's happening, most often at some point in the converstaion they will mention that they are praying for me and that I should keep praying. I think this is great advice, and I am touched that they would pray for me, but I think people miss the point of prayer. Should I pray about things in my life? Absolutely, no doubt about it, but, and here's the kicker, IF ALL I DO IS PRAY ABOUT IT, NOTHING WILL HAPPEN!!!. That's right, I just said that. Think about if for a minute, before you freak out and think that I am speaking out against prayer. I am all for prayer, but what I am speaking out against is ONLY prayer. Here's an example of what I am talking about:
Let's say I lose my job and am unemployed. If I sit at home, and pray to God and ask him to give me a job, but I never actually look for myself, then will I find a job? If I don't go online and search, or look through the classifieds, or hand out resumes, I will never find a job, no matter how hard I pray. When we pray, God expects us to act! Prayer requires some sort of action. God doesn't always answere our prayer is some miraculous way out of the blue (he does sometimes, but most of the time he doesn't work that way). So when someone tells me to pray about it, it bothers me...because I know that I need to pray, but I need advice about what to do WHILe I pray. Too often, people are so focused on praying and waiting for God to act, that they miss out on opportunities. Here is another anecdote, which you may have heard before:
A hige flood is sweeping through a city, and a man begins to pray. "God save me". A car drives by hsi house and offers to give him a ride, "No, God will save me", he says, and the car drives away. The waters rise, and the man moves to the top floor of his house, leaning out a window. A boat drives by and offers to give the man a ride, "No, God will save me", he says...and the boat drives off. The water rises again and the man is on his roof. A helicopter flies overhead, and offers the man a ride, "No God will save me", he says. The helicopter flies off and the man drowns. When he gets to heaven he asks God "Why didn't you save me?"...and God says, "I sent a car, a boat and a helipcoter...why didn't you escape with them?"
As ridiculous as this story is, it's truth hits closer to home than we would like to think. We get so caught up in praying for God to save us, that we fail to act for ourselves. Yes, God will help, but he wants us to work for ourselves as well. Don't overlook the car, boat or helicopter. Take action...yes, keep praying, but don't solely pray and then get angry when nothing happpens.
The book of James talks about Faith and Works...it's the same concept here. Just like we can't truly be Christians if we don't act like it, we can't truly Pray without action.
That's my opinion, you don't have to agree, but I hope that it does make you think. So before you give the cliche answers to someone, think about it first...what is this really saying? and is there anything else that you could say that isn't so common that it loses it's meaning?