The Lord's Prayer is Offensive

 

 The Lord’s Prayer is offensive.  Yup.  It is.  Maybe that is why we don’t recite it anymore in churches, in schools at weddings, funerals etc.  The Lord’s prayer comes straight out of scriptures, spoken by the Lord Jesus Himself as an example how we should pray.  So, why don’t I ever hear it anymore?  I was thinking about this as I was preparing a devotional on the Lord’s prayer from Matthew 6:9-13.   

We pray to Our Father…We aren’t praying to the God of your choosing, but to Abba, “daddy”….the loving, caring, patient God of the Universe, whose name is Hallowed, or Holy and deserves to be worshipped above all other gods. 

Everything is about building God’s Kingdom, not your little kingdom. 

God wants His will, His plan, His heart’s desire for your life. Sorry, but life is not all about you.

This is God’s earth and His heaven.  He created it.  We are just passing through.

God provides our daily needs, our daily bread….The kingdom you think you’re building on your own efforts and intelligence…Think again.

Don’t forget, we are to forgive others since God first forgave us.  Yes, that means you forgive the guy who cut you off in traffic and the hacker who stole your credit card number.

Believe it or not, we are all sinners who are prone to evil.  We all are lead into temptation every now and then.  Fez up.  Admit you made the wrong choice and ask God to give you wisdom next time. 

The Lord Jesus is coming back.  Those who find His prayer offensive could care less.  When He returns, the Lord Jesus will restore God’s kingdom after He judges ALL the earth.  Do you want to be delivered from evil? Then you better start believing in the message of the Gospel spoken by the Lord Jesus in His prayer.  Only the Lord Jesus has the power to deliver you from evil.  He paid the debt owed to God for your sin.  It was paid in full when He sacrificed His own life for yours.  When you appreciate this gift of forgiveness offered to you, then you will be able to forgive others with a grateful heart. 

The Lord’s prayer is not offensive to God’s children.  A Christian should know they are weak, prone to wander and in need of a Savior, His truth and His Kingdom.   God's prayer is offensive to a world that doesn’t believe in God and rejects His truth and His Kingdom in favor for their own.  Imagine the world if it embraced the Lord’s prayer and lived it out?  Evil wouldn’t stand a chance.  It may be my fight, but it for His glory!

Matthew 6:9-15

9 “This, then, is how you should pray:

“‘Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name,
10 your kingdom come,
your will be done,
    on earth as it is in heaven.
11 Give us today our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts,
    as we also have forgiven our debtors.
13 And lead us not into temptation,[a]
    but deliver us from the evil one.[b]’

14 For if you forgive other people when they sin against you, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins.

 

Wear the Stupid Mask

This summer did not end as I hoped.  My kids didn’t get to perform in their school concerts, I didn’t get to enjoy the finale of Community Bible Study after 31 weeks in God’s word, and I never got to get my final chemo treatment. I missed lunch dates with my friends, date nights with my husband and I did not get to Wales to celebrate a long and difficult year of cancer treatments.  What did I get?  Three weeks in the hospital.  When I should have been celebrating my final chemo treatment, I was lying in a hospital bed, isolated from my family for many days as I was treated for an infection on my spine.  I was finally discharged, only to find myself back in the hospital with a life-threatening infection caused by a tiny parasite in a tick.  Babesiosis almost took my life and took me from the family I love. If anyone had something to be angry about this summer, I guess you could say I had plenty of reason.  Anger, however, was not something I experienced. 

I was used to wearing a mask for the past year when I went out in public.  With white cell counts in the basement thanks to my chemotherapy treatments, I was a marked woman.  I took my life into my hands every time I went to the grocery store, to church to worship or to lead my bible study each week.  Did it stop me?  No!  So, why all this anger and political positioning over a stupid mask?

I am just astounded at the amount of anger I have witnessed over the past few months, especially anger among professing Christians.  Yes, I got frustrated a time or two.  Like the many times I drove to the grocery store only to find out I forgot my mask and had to drive back home to retrieve it.  Or the time I desperately longed for my husband’s hug and my children’s smiles when I was stuck in a hospital bed isolated from them by Covid protocols.  Yes, I was discouraged, but not angry.  Why are so many Christians so darn angry?  Well, I think we have forgotten Who we serve.

 “In humility count others more significant than yourselves. Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant. (Phil. 2:3, 5–7)

Consider the health of the grocery clerk more important than your own by wearing a mask.  Consider your health care worker’s safety more important than your own.  Consider the exhausted mail carrier who left your Amazon package in the rain.  Consider your neighbor’s need to hear the gospel more important than the political statement posted on your yard or Facebook page.  Consider your servant role when your husband and children drive you crazy for the trillionth time this month.  Consider your isolation may just be the very thing that is fueling your anger.  Yes, your anger may be self-imposed.  

Loving our neighbor means we put others before our own needs.  I think we need to revisit that great commandment and take it to heart.  Put aside our personal disappointments and love those who need to hear and see the love of Christ.  Consider not your own fears, but how you may be a blessing to others.  Why do we put others first?  Because Christ did that for us. “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 John 4:10)

How easily we forget this simple, but profound truth when the going gets tough. Let us not forget.  Our disappointments, our frustrations are nothing compared to the sacrifice and suffering our Savior endured for us.  Doesn’t our Lord deserve more from us in this time of trial? So put on the darn mask.  It is a temporary discomfort to endure to ensure others are loved.  

 

Seas of Fury in the Storms of Life

I’m sitting here at the beach watching and listening to the sounds of the surf pound against the shore from my hotel room.  A storm is on the horizon and the waves are especially rough, leaving an endless white and foamy trail.  I love the ocean.  It is one of my happy places.  I came down to the beach to escape the trappings of a long and difficult year defined by one trial after another.  I came to the beach to rest my soul, to recharge and see the splendor of God’s creation.  Ancient religions however didn’t seek the ocean for respite.  In fact, they feared the ocean and its mysterious power.  They referred to the sea as an abyss and saw it as a symbol of chaos and hell.  Today, we understand many of the ocean’s mysteries and those fears of the unknown have been put to rest.  However, we do fear the storms of life- storms that sweep up suddenly and crush us like the waves. Many of these storms are man-made, created by people whose angry hearts are as furious as a raging sea.  Their words foaming from their mouth like a thundering surf, pounding others with their fury. Today there are many angry voices and fists raised at God, challenging His authority and Kingdom.  But the good news is, God is still on the throne, “robed in majesty”. 

 Let us look at Psalm 93

¹ The Lord reigns, he is robed in majesty;
    the Lord is robed in majesty and armed with strength;
    indeed, the world is established, firm and secure.
² Your throne was established long ago;
    you are from all eternity.

³ The seas have lifted up, Lord,
    the seas have lifted up their voice;
    the seas have lifted up their pounding waves.
⁴ Mightier than the thunder of the great waters,
    mightier than the breakers of the sea—
    the Lord on high is mighty.

⁵ Your statutes, Lord, stand firm;
    holiness adorns your house
    for endless days.

Fear not friends.  The Lord is clothed in strength and His glory and power will reign forever. The Lord hears the cries of His children and defends those he calls His own.  The voices of the ungodly are all foam and fury. Like waves in a storm, they too will be silenced upon our King’s return.  For those who call themselves Children of God, we must remain calm in the storm.  We dwell in the protection of God’s house and verse 5 tells us to adorn ourselves with God’s holiness.  The way God’s children behave towards others is a powerful testimony.  We need to weather the storms of life with grace and not fury.  We must reflect the words of God’s truth and his holiness if we are to be a reliable witness to the world.  We must also be obedient to God’s word and repent when we fail to honor our King. A true child of God will mourn their sin and offer forgiveness when they have been sinned against.  Our King Jesus paid too great a price to redeem us as His children.  When the seas of life get rough, I will cling to the robe of my King and lean on His strength.  The fight may be mine, but it is for God’s glory!