In many countries certain
crimes have limitation periods, after which their perpetrators can be assured
they will not be prosecuted for their misconduct. The practice goes all the way
back to classical Greece prior to 400 B.C. For Athenians, every illegal act except homicide set a five-year clock ticking, at which point the guilty man or woman could heave a sigh of relief and
move on to mulling over the potential legal fallout from more recent sins.
Likewise, for obvious
reasons my insurance company does not want to be inundated with claims for covered
losses that occurred Way Back When. So if you rear-end me at a traffic light on
my way to work later today, I have precisely 365 days to initiate a claim,
after which I will have a pretty tough time collecting anything to which I
might otherwise have been entitled under the terms of my insurance agreement.
Prayer is not like
that. It has no statute of limitations.