I say the Lord’s Prayer every day. I meditate on it. I savor it, as I do all of Christ’s teaching. Today, He revealed this new meaning to me.
The Lord’s Prayer holds the juxtaposition of heaven and earth before us.
Heaven: where our Father is King, where His Name reigns supreme, where His Kingdom is eternal and infinite.
Earth: where the rebellion against God continues, where we invite God‘s kingdom to reign, for God‘s will to be carried out, where we ask him to provide for us daily – the Bread of Heaven, Jesus Christ; where trespasses, temptations, and evil trip us up; where we need God to intervene in our self-willed lives – to forgive our sins, to protect us against temptation, to deliver us safely from the devil and his demons.
Jesus taught his disciples – including us – to recognize through this prayer how much we need God, because we are in a place and time where His will is contested by our own, where His provision is often refused, where we are at risk of losing our place in God‘s garden, where we need to ask him daily to keep us safe and ready for the return of Christ, so we can be swept up into heaven to spend eternity with God. Christ may come any day and so every day we must be ready. We must forgive our neighbor, we must proclaim Him King, we must praise His Power and Glory, we must stand against the enemy, and we must fight temptation to lay down our armor and give in to sin.
The Lord’s Prayer reminds us each day of what is at stake and what we are called to do. Remain steadfast and secure in the Lord – and he will deliver us on that Final Day.
Resting in the Lord’s strength,
Doug