“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Now the dwelling of God is with men, and he will live with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.” (Revelation 21:1-4, NIV).
We seem to forget that as Christians, we live in a fallen world (Genesis 3). We dwell on earthly things instead of heavenly things (Colossians 3:2). And so, we forget that there is a place of perfection that we were meant for. God created a perfect universe, a paradise where we were intended to dwell, to abide with Him. Though we are totally depraved and lack moral ability, God has given us the free gift of salvation. In our accepting Christ, He has pardoned us from our sins and destined us for His kingdom at the second coming of King Jesus.
We ought to focus our every thought and action on our heavenly destination, yet we act like this broken place where we dwell can be made whole by our own plans and efforts. We create unnecessary burdens for ourselves by seeking to fix a world that is beyond our ability to fix. We cannot even save ourselves, let alone others, or the worldly things around us.
The world is broken. If we focus our view on the world, we find loss, pain, hurt, sorrow, tears, evil, temptation, and every kind of evil done by humans. We should expect all these things to continue until God’s kingdom comes in final victory. But God gives us Himself to sustain ourselves in this broken world and to offer love and help to others around us. He gives us Himself as Savior, the Ultimate Hope. So, in accepting our circumstances in this fallen world, He gives us all we need and calls us to be prepared for the new heaven and the new earth. That is what the Lord’s Prayer is all about: Desiring God’s kingdom to come on Earth and in the days until then, asking Him to provide our daily needs, to protect us against evil and temptation, to forgive each other as He forgives us, and to acknowledge and worship Him in His Power, Kingdom, and Glory.
To say the Lord’s Prayer daily is to remind us that we live in a broken world, but we are constantly watching, waiting, and anticipating the new heaven and the new earth, where we will experience the perfection of God that He created us for.
In His hands,
Doug