Plain English

A train wreck of a person once read a phrase and completely missed the point. Of course, it was funny to watch in action. And since I have a self-directed duty to report lunacy in action, here goes:

Quote:

"It's arrogance to ask God for more opportunities to serve Him when there are opportunities all around us now."

Passive aggressive response:

"Is it arrogance to ask God for more opportunities to serve Him? Paul sure didn't think so. II Thes 3:1, Romans 1:10-12, Col 4:3 #projection"

Analysis -
Let's get to it. There are some Bible verses here. Let's examine...

II Thessalonians 3:1

Finally, brothers and sisters, pray for us so that the Lord’s message will spread quickly and be honored, just like it happened with you.

This statement answers several potential questions.
Pray for whom?  "Us." - Paul, Timothy, Silvanus
Pray for what? "... that the Lord's message will spread quickly and be honored..."

Certainly not a prayer for *more* opportunity to serve.

Romans 1:10-12

I continually mention you in all my prayers. I’m always asking that somehow, by God’s will, I might succeed in visiting you at last. I really want to see you to pass along some spiritual gift to you so that you can be strengthened. What I mean is that we can mutually encourage each other while I am with you. We can be encouraged by the faithfulness we find in each other, both your faithfulness and mine.

This statement, with regards to what is being prayed for, is very clear: Paul is praying that he might be able to visit the Romans. 

Certainly not a prayer for *more* opportunity to serve.

Colossians 4:3

At the same time, pray for us also. Pray that God would open a door for the word so we can preach the secret plan of Christ—which is why I’m in chains.

This is another statement that answers the question "what?" In this case, the "what" happens to be "pray for what?" Answer - pray that God would open the hearts of men and make them receptive to the calling of the Holy Spirit.

Certainly not a prayer for *more* opportunity to serve.

"#projection"
Funny part on this is the fact that the person who wrote it has quite the renown for being one to employ psychological projection. He hates it when called out on it, too.

Summary
It is not a sin to pray for for more opportunities to serve God. Funny, though - it is arrogant to pray for *more* opportunities to serve when one has opportunities right in front of one's face. It is man's way of saying that the opportunities that God has already placed in front of him (man) are somehow not worthy of that man. It would, generally speaking, be far wiser to pray for discernment, and that one's eyes be opened to see the opportunities placed in front of him.

To be fair, my pastor did a segment in a recent sermon just on this concept, so this was easy for me to spot. We were reading from Acts 8. Specifically, the segment on Phillip and the Ethiopian eunuch.

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