Had our American culture written the Lord’s Prayer, it might start like this: “My Gramps, rocking away on the heavenly porch…” Then what?
Jesus teaches us to pray, “Hallowed be Thy name.” That’s about way more than “cussing.” It is about all God teaches us in the Bible about life now and eternal salvation. In the Bible is “the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except” through the One in God’s Word. (John 14:6) Ah, but the American prayer might say, “Gramps, keep rocking, don’t worry about us, because all roads lead to heaven.”
“Thy Kingdom come.” Here we ask God to send His Spirit to rule our hearts and minds, just as He rules the universe and rules in heaven. When we ask God to rule in us, we’re saying that we will obey what He teaches us. How un-American, that I should willingly obey someone else! “Gramps, since all roads lead to heaven, don’t impose your values on us. We can do whatever we want…and we will.”
So much that teaches us and in so few words. Who can exhaust the relevance of the Lord’s Prayer for our lives?
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