Before it was ‘spiritual’ and hard to understand, but now we have arrived at ‘bread’ it really begins to be relevant.” Fair enough, but this is only because it meets us where we are, rather than where we ought to be! Having missed the vision of the first three petitions, petitions that lie at the heart of the prayer, we are like the teacher’s nightmare of youngsters on an outing to a great house, scurrying through the magnificent rooms with eyes only for the sweet shop! Bread is something that really matters to me. And we are taught to pray for safety, again, not for our personal comfort, but rather that we might be able to live as free and faithful servants of the King.įor many of us, however, it is not until we arrive at ‘daily bread’ that we feel, “Ah, now the prayer really begins. We are taught to pray for forgiveness and for a willingness to forgive, not to make us ‘nice people,’ but to enable us to live for the Lord and to work together with one another as a team. We are taught to pray for bread, not just for ourselves and our own comfort, but bread that we might be free from anxious care and so free to live for the glory of our heavenly Father. The petitions for daily bread, a forgiving spirit and spiritual safety do not stand on their own any more than a cluster of kitchens, cloakrooms and security rooms would be built in the place of a great house at the centre of an estate! The kitchens and cloakrooms are only there to make possible the banquets and receptions of the great rooms, and so it is with this majestic prayer. They set the vision, goal and aim for the more practical petitions that follow. These form the three magnificent, central rooms of this great house of prayer. The honour of our heavenly Father’s name, the coming of his kingdom and his will done on earth as it is in heaven.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |