Do You Believe in Magic?

I recently read a news post on the New York Times website called "Do You Believe In Magic?" And no, the author Benedict Carey, was not asking the reader whether or not Harry Potter was true. Instead, he looked at the various ways that otherwise sane adults could hold superstitious and irrational beliefs. This kind of magic is the kind of belief that says, "The Seahawks didn't go to the Superbowl because I watched the game without my lucky penny."

What I think is interesting about this article is that it suggests that so-called magical thinking begins just about the age that we lose "wishing". It begins about the same time that we teach our children prayer. In essence magical thinking is continuing to believe that we can affect the world around us, just by wishing it so.

This is not faith. Faith in God is knowing that God has real power. Power to change our circumstances, power to change out lives. It is not something that we are wishing for and hoping it comes true. It is the trust we put in God to take care of us, and to actually be present in our lives. God will and does change everything about us from our circumstances to our outlook on life. It is not make-bleieve that gets us through difficult times. God does get us through difficult times, and often in a different manner than we expect. Moveover, God is a God that also gives us cause for rejoicing when things aren't difficult as well.

However, we need to treat God like He is real and not merely some kind of cosmic slot machine. Let me illustrate this kind of thinking. If I view God superstitiously, I will think of prayer and worship like a formula. If only I pray hard enough, or the right number of times, or under the right kind of ambient light, then perhaps he might give me what I pray for. We have to realize that when God does not answer prayer in the way that we ask for, He is not ignoring us or being arbitrary. Instead, like a good parent, He is looking out for our best interest in ALL things. Does a good parent let their child drink Drano, just because they want to? No, if they did CPS would take the child away. Likewise, should we expect God to give us things that we ask for, even though it could be poisonous to our souls? No. And the thing is, God is infinitely more wise than we, and so understands everything better than we. So if we do not get what we pray for should we whine and complain that God is unfair? Perhaps instead we should look for how else He is planning to bless us instead.

So the question that I must ask is this: is your faith merely magical thinking, or do you believe that it will have real results?

The link for the article is this: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/23/health/psychology/23magic.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5087%0A&em&en=d318e74867028f46&ex=1169874000