|
Last Saturday, in The Perfect Prayer, Part 2, we saw that the second line of Jesus' perfect prayer reminds us that although God is our loving daddy, we must remember that He is the definition of holiness! And as His ambassadors on Earth, we need to honour the holiness of His name in all of our thoughts, actions and words!
This week we jump to the next line: “Your kingdom come…On earth as it is in heaven.” (Matthew 6:10a,c NASB).
I don’t know about you, but this opens up a whole can of worms in my mind. Just what is this Kingdom? I mean, when I think of God’s Kingdom, my mind automatically goes to the thoughts of Heaven as a whole! Isn’t that, after all, the kingdom of God? And since His Kingdom isn’t going to come until Jesus’ return, then isn’t it nothing more than a simply plea for Jesus to return?
It most definitely can be interpreted that way, and I would encourage each of you this week, as you are meditating on this line of Jesus’ perfect prayer, to spend some time praying for Jesus’ swift return. But when I read the last part of verse 10, the part that says, “on Earth as it is in Heaven”, I begin to wonder if this is the only thing Jesus meant when He included this line in His perfect prayer… I mean, when Jesus returns, Heaven will be on Earth! So why pray that it happens on Earth like it does in Heaven? Or is there another, equally powerful meaning to this line?
The Bible always explains itself, and in the case of the Kingdom of God, it gives us several definitions of what Jesus means when He uses this term. Here are a couple of examples:
“The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found and hid again; and from joy over it he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” (Matthew 13:44 NASB);
“The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field; and this is smaller than all other seeds, but when it is full grown, it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree…” (Matthew 13:31-32 NASB);
“Then the kingdom of heaven will be comparable to ten virgins, who took their lamps and went out to meet the groom. Five of them were foolish, and five were prudent. For when the foolish took their lamps, they did not take extra oil with them…” (Matthew 25:1-3 NASB)
Much could be said about each one of these parables, along with the many other references in Scripture to the Kingdom of God. But when we look at each one and note how they are all different, we begin to understand that each is giving us a tiny glimpse of Kingdom principles. The first example given above helps us to understand the Kingdom principle of priority: God needs to be our first priority! The second example teaches us the Kingdom principle of how God works in our lives to change us into images of Himself! And the third example above demonstrates the Kingdom principle that we must always be vigilant and filled with God’s Spirit. And as we probe each of the snippets of God’s Kingdom that are provide to us in Scripture, we learn more and more about what life in God’s Kingdom will be like.
Thus, when we pray, “Your Kingdom come … on Earth as it is in Heaven”, we are essentially praying that God’s people on Earth will begin to live lives that follow these Kingdom principles!
Not a bad prayer to pray! And an easy one! We want all of God’s children to be light and salt to the unsaved world! Where it gets more complicated, however, is that we are part of the group being addressed here! As sons and daughters of God, we are called to be holy, because He is holy (See The Perfect Prayer, Part 2). This very next line of the perfect prayer, then, tells us how we can be holy! We can honor the holiness of God’s name by … emanating the principles of God’s Kingdom on Earth!
As my late mom would say, “the preacher just stopped preaching and has gone to meddling”! This is God’s call for YOU to begin to see the Kingdom principles growing in YOUR heart!
I urge each of you this week to pray through the Lord’s Prayer, and as you do, to spend some time every day meditating on this one line! Last week, we urged you to ask God to reveal to you how your actions and words might not be honouring the holiness of God’s name, and this week, we encourage you to ask God to reveal which part of His Kingdom principles He wants you to focus on today so that the holiness of His name can be honoured in your actions and thoughts and words!
It is true that another important point was left out of the centre of this 10th verse of Matthew 6. It is such a powerful line, however, that it warrants its own devotional, and this will be the focus of next Saturday’s Nugget. We ask you to join us for: "Your Will be Done: The Perfect Prayer, Part 4"!
In His love,
Lyn
Lynona Gordon Chaffart
Author, Moderator, Acting Director, Answers2Prayer Ministries
|
