[ Note: This post appeared in the Lawrence Journal-World (Lawrence, Kansas, the home of the Kansas University Jayhawks). I was asked to write it for the Faith Forum section. ]
Is praying for a March Madness win proper or greedy?
Interesting question with many possible answers:
The Northern Iowa answer: Probably greedy, but it works!
The KU answer: Probably greedy, but it doesn’t work.
The statistical answer: Regardless, it works 50% of the time.
The fraternity answer: Could you repeat the question?
The sorority answer: What’s “March Madness”? That sounds scary!
The text message answer: LOL 🙂 AYS? IHNI
The psychological answer: How does praying for a win make you feel?
The philosophical answer: What does it mean to win … really?
The pragmatic answer: Who cares—just get the ball to Cole, play defense and hit the boards!
The pessimistic answer: Hardly anyone wins the national championship.
The desperate answer: If it helps, it’s “proper”.
The optimistic answer: God doesn’t mind a little greed.
The mystical answer: The true “madness” is yet to come.
The postmodern answer: I don’t know.
The epistemological answer: How do we know what’s “proper”?
The Supreme Court’s answer: Where do you want to do this “praying”?
The Pelosi-Reid-Obama answer: What’s “proper”?
The Wall Street answer: What’s “greedy”?
The John Lennon answer: Imagine no losers.
The Bill Self answer: Is it too late to pray?
The Arminian answer: Who chose this question?
The Calvinist answer: Man is hopelessly greedy apart from the grace of God.
The logical answer: Greedy—definitely greedy.
The thoughtful answer: I don’t think God cares about basketball.
The theological answer: Winning and losing games is part of God’s permissive will.
The Biblical answer: “…In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God (Philippians 4:6).” Let Him know what you want. If it’s “according to His will” (1 John 5:14-15) and glorifies Him (John 14:13), then it’s not greedy to pray for a basketball game.
Now, turning back time for a second chance … that’s a whole different question.
