Posts Tagged: Matthew 6:7

“Not All Repetitions are Vain”

On September 30, 2020 by Dteb With 0 Comments - down to earth believer

The praise team at our church was singing a song in which they repeated the same words over and over. Vain repetition? Well, there is such a thing. But I don’t think that the praise team was guilty of it.

Admittedly, repetition can be empty or vain. Jesus warned his disciples about this, and we also need to hear that warning. “And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.” (Matthew 6:7)

The King James Version of this verse warns against “vain repetitions.” However, not all repetitions are vain or empty. Some are very helpful and rich.

One good function of repetition is that it emphasizes a thing, a person, a prayer, an idea. When that thing, person, prayer, or idea is important, then repetitive emphasis is in order. I tell my wife every day that I love her. Vain repetition? I don’t think so! Emphasizing something that is true and important? Yes!

Another advantage of repetition is that it is wonderfully helpful when I’m trying to learn something. There is a saying that goes something like this:

“Repetition is the handmaiden of learning.

Repetition is the handmaiden of learning.

Repetition is the handmaiden of learning.”

I am currently learning a bit of Spanish with the help of Duolingo. The lessons are very repetitious. Thank God! With my a.d.d. mind, I have to go over and over things before I really get them. Only when something has become second nature to us is it really part of our nature at all.

Of course, what I/we are repeating needs to be true and helpful. In this day of the twenty-four-hour, seven-days-a-week news cycle, there is a tendency to simply repeat whatever news or allegations are currently making the rounds. And the problem is that if a thing is said over and over, we tend to believe it. But lies can be recycled over and over too. That doesn’t make them true, however.

And, of course, there is the anonymous net and antisocial media. Things are repeated and repeated until we believe them. Now that is vain repetition!

But if a thing is true and important, it is worthy of repetition. Such repetition is anything but vain.

Sing that repetitious song one more time, praise team! At least one more time!

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