The Lawrence Journal-World asked me (Pastor LePage) to reply to the Faith Forum question, “Is praying for a March Madness win proper or greedy?” The editor indicated she was looking for a tongue-in-cheek answer, so I gave them what I thought was a pretty decent reply. You can read it by clicking here. My “Biblical answer” was very short, so I want to elaborate just a bit.

First, here’s how I understand the question: Should we pray about the simple, less-than-earth-shattering issues of life? In other words, should we really pray about basketball games? Does God really hear our prayers before math quizzes? Isn’t God too busy to listen to our requests for nice weather?  

Second,  here’s how I answered in the article: 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.

Notice the word “everything” there in Philippians 4:6. Now, I believe God is more concerned with matters of eternal significance and there are many things for which God has no preference. God probably doesn’t care much about who won the NCAA Championship, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t pray about it. I believe God invites us to bring “everything” to Him that we think is important. What I mean is that God knows what is important to you, so just be honest with Him. As we pray about those things which are relatively unimportant, I believe He leads our hearts to focus on what is more important.  

But also, God’s perspective is so far above ours. He knows things we don’t. He can see when a basketball game might bring about good things of a more significant nature. He sees when losing a championship game would cause a coach to take inventory of his life and start moving in a God-honoring direction again. He sees when winning a game would give a Christian player a greater platform to honor his Creator.

The fact is, we should pray that God’s will would be done and that He would be glorified in our lives. If winning a basketball game can contribute to either of these important prayer factors, we should definitely pray for a March Madness win.