I'm returning to the Lord's Prayer. I feel that I need to give some time to the second half, since I devoted quite a few words to the first part. I'm going to write an entry on each of phrases in order, so today is "Give us this day our daily bread".
Why Ask?
I posed this stumper to my Sunday school class: Matthew 6:8 says "your Father knows what you need before you ask him.", so why ask?
Further down in verse 25, Jesus says "Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?"
Again, Jesus tells us (implicitly) that the Father will provide for us. Even so, it's pretty clear that we should ask. After all, Jesus teaches us to ask God for one of our most basic needs.
I'm not going to pretend to have the keys to unlock the mysteries of prayer and it seems that God delights in paradoxes, but I've come up with some answers to "why ask?" that make sense, at least to me. I'd love to hear what you think, as I'm sure my answers are incomplete.
What is the context?
One thing I've been discovering is that the Lord's Prayer doesn't exist in a vacuum. It is part of a larger sermon (at least in Matthew) - the Sermon on th Mount. This is important because the sermon isn't just random bits and pieces thrown together. It is a coherent object with thematic ties. Certainly, we can take it apart (like we're doing now), but read as a single entity it comes together as more than the sum of its parts. I recommend you read it in a single sitting sometime and see if you agree.
Anyway, the reason I say that is Matthew 6:33 (following on from the quote above) says "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."
"All these things" refers to food,clothes and water - the necessities of life. In other words, "Our daily bread". I can't help but think that this is intended as a direct parallel to the Lord's Prayer. "Seek first" correlates to "hallowed be/kingdom come/will be done" and "all these things" parallels "daily bread/forgive us/lead us/deliver us". All this to say that asking for our needs is a matter of our spiritual alignment - of seeking first the kingdom of God.
The steward and the King
Helping us to align ourselves Godward is an acknowledgement of His provision. It is not so much a request as it is an admission: "God, you provide my daily bread." We walk down a dangerous path when we think that WE are responsible for our provision, our success, our salvation. To be sure, we do have responsibilities - but the responsibilities are those of a steward, we are to be wise with what we are GIVEN ("Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights..." James 1:17) We can take the mantle of ultimate provider, but that is a heavy weight and one that God says He will carry. And even then, I have a suspicion that we would be play-acting.
When we ask God for something (food, healing, jobs, blessing...), we are admiting that we can't do/provide these things ourselves. We need help and our help comes from the Father. This has a few very important implications: 1) We glorify God and not ourselves. We come to a place of humility and give God the glory for what he has done. 2) We don't carry the burden of success. God's measurements are on a different scale. Our responsibility is for stewardship and obedience with what we've been given. If we fulfill our responsibility, we need not worry about the results - that is God's job.
In this corner, from parts unknown...
Now I'm getting into a much harder question than "why ask". I'm wandering into "Why isn't my prayer answered?" This is a question I will wrestle with next post. But first I've got to put on my tights and mask. Will I get the big gold belt or the smack down? Stay tuned...
Friday, June 03, 2005
Thursday, June 02, 2005
One Year Bible
So a lot of people at our church have been reading the "One Year Bible". Basically, this is a Bible that you can read through in a year. It's not divided by book like a standard bible, instead it's divided into days. Each day has a New Testament, Old Testament (I never liked that name - how about "Hebrew scriptures" or something like that...), Psalms and Proverbs reading. I didn't really like the layout - too difficult to reference - but I did like the idea. I found the schedule online and have converted it to Excel, CSV and XML format. The nice thing about these files is it is not by date, but by day (e.g. day 1, day 2, etc.) This means you could start NOW and have read the Bible one year from now without having to try to do some sort of date conversion. Enjoy!
One Year Bible - Excel (57 KB)
Right-click to download these:
One Year Bible - CSV (15 KB)
One Year Bible - XML (45 KB)
By the way, I'm a bit behind, myself...
One Year Bible - Excel (57 KB)
Right-click to download these:
One Year Bible - CSV (15 KB)
One Year Bible - XML (45 KB)
By the way, I'm a bit behind, myself...
Case in Point
So yesterday I was discussing the awesome responsibility of being a father. Why? Because our children look us and who we are will shape who THEY are. Who we are will also color their understanding of God the Father.
My wife told me yesterday that our son (17 months) and his friend (20 months)who she looks after were playing "daddies". This consists mostly of picking up a bag and "going to work" (waving goodbye and walking around the corner.) It also consists of wrapping up their suffed animals and putting them to bed (I and my son's friend's father put them to bed regularly - although my wife has done the bulk of it [because she's GREAT!])
The point: THEY'RE WATCHING! I knew this. But when you see them doing the very things that you do, it hits home. If this isn't sobering, I don't know what is. I know they have their own personalities and make their own choices, but our influence will last their whole lives. How will I (we) influence our children? Sobering, indeed.
My wife told me yesterday that our son (17 months) and his friend (20 months)who she looks after were playing "daddies". This consists mostly of picking up a bag and "going to work" (waving goodbye and walking around the corner.) It also consists of wrapping up their suffed animals and putting them to bed (I and my son's friend's father put them to bed regularly - although my wife has done the bulk of it [because she's GREAT!])
The point: THEY'RE WATCHING! I knew this. But when you see them doing the very things that you do, it hits home. If this isn't sobering, I don't know what is. I know they have their own personalities and make their own choices, but our influence will last their whole lives. How will I (we) influence our children? Sobering, indeed.
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
On Fatherhood
I was intending to write more about the Lord's Prayer (and I will be...!), but it's clear that a theme of fatherhood has arisen out of the first post and I want to write a bit about that as it weighs on my heart and mind quite a bit.
Ben wrote in the comments to "In the Beginning":
"...as I pray the Lord's prayer I also need to sort out who my real father is - the one in heaven. There is much my earthly dad has given me that contradicts God's values and attitudes towards me and I need to be consistently sorting out who's voiced am I listening/reacting to."
This is a critically important observation for two reasons: 1) Each one of us has a longing to hear the voice of the Father; To know Him. This, I believe, is innate and we find ourselves acting out of this longing whether we know it or not. 2) If we are priveleged enough to be fathers (which should be taken very broadly - I know men who walk in fatherhood, though they have no children of their own), we have been given an awesome responsibility. We are a representation of God to our children and our children's understanding of God will be colored by us. This should cause fear and trembling in any man and drive us to our knees ("Our Father in Heaven...!")
An Innate Longing
We were created to know and glorify the Father. Jesus prayed in John 17:2-4, "For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do." James writes in chapter 1:16-17 "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created."
Eternal life is to know the Father (and the Son.) The Father has chosen to give us birth. Why? so that we may be a kind of firstfruits (the best) of all he created. That we may complete the work given us to glorify Him. The search for meaning in our lives comes out of a desire to know God. Our lives only truly make sense in the context of sons and daughters of God. Outside of that we risk idolatry or a divided heart. ("The spirit He put in us longs jealously", "Love the Lord your God with ALL your heart, mind, soul and strength")
Romans 8:15-17 tells us "For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship [adoption]. And by him we cry, 'Abba, Father.' The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory."
...
"Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. [v. 23]"
There is much that can be said about these verses, but the clear theme is that we are children of God (spirit of Sonship/wait eagerly for our adoption) As sons, daughters and co-heirs we need to know the Father!
An Awesome Responsibility
Fatherhood is an awesome responsibility. Not only do we have the temporal concerns of provision, teaching, discipline and raising, but we have an eternal responsibility to be a true representation of God to our children. As fallen people in a fallen world we will never be able to do this perfectly - in fact, we will be amazingly imperfect. This means we need to not only do our best to represent the Father, but we also need to admit to our children that we are NOT the Father. We need to have the humility to ask for forgiveness and to admit our imperfection. This does not excuse bad behavior, poor judgement or honest mistakes - on the contrary, it gives us an opportunity to demonstrate the grace and mercy of God in our lives.
I have to admit that I don't really know how to fulfill this responsibility. It's one of the advantages of being in a community of beleivers - we fathers are all struggling under the weight(glory) of fatherhood. Together we encourage, teach, pray for and admonish one another. We want our children to know God, we want them to learn to pray, we want them to embrace their faith as their own. My own son is only 1.5 years old, so how do I demonstate who God is to Him? Does "don't throw your peas on the ground!" somehow translate into a show of God's discipline? Maybe. I think part of faith is trusting God to use our mistakes, our weakness, our humanity as a learning tool. We're supposed to learn more from our mistakes, right?
I suppose this brings us back to the Lord's Prayer. A simple prayer that properly aligns us to God, that allows us to submit to Him and admit that He is Father and King. "YOUR kingdom come, YOUR will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven." Daily bread, forgiveness, guidance. Each one a necessity in our lives. Each one a necessity if we are to succeed as Fathers.
The Hearts of the Fathers
A sobering parting thought: Malachi 4:5-6 has a sober prophecy regarding fatherhood: "See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse."
First, the good news: The Spirit of Elijah will be sent to turn the hearts of Fathers to their children and the children's hearts to their fathers. We could certainly use the help - as I look around, I see both incredible examples of fatherhood but also incredible failures. I see resentful children and aloof fathers. I also see devoted children and loving fathers. Is there a tipping point? I think so.
Here's the bad news: If the fathers' and children's hearts aren't turned it's not going to go well for the land. Curses are not good things. I pray for the spirit of Elijah to fill us so that we may do everything in our power to turn fathers' hearts especially.
John the Baptist had that spirit: "Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." (Luke 1:14-17 italics added)
Can we go on before the Lord, in the power and the spirit of Elijah? I think we must. If we fail at fatherhood, if our hearts are not turned toward our children, we are doomed. Conversely, when hearts ARE turned, it is a tremendous blessing. Pray for the spirit of Elijah to come upon us.
Ben wrote in the comments to "In the Beginning":
"...as I pray the Lord's prayer I also need to sort out who my real father is - the one in heaven. There is much my earthly dad has given me that contradicts God's values and attitudes towards me and I need to be consistently sorting out who's voiced am I listening/reacting to."
This is a critically important observation for two reasons: 1) Each one of us has a longing to hear the voice of the Father; To know Him. This, I believe, is innate and we find ourselves acting out of this longing whether we know it or not. 2) If we are priveleged enough to be fathers (which should be taken very broadly - I know men who walk in fatherhood, though they have no children of their own), we have been given an awesome responsibility. We are a representation of God to our children and our children's understanding of God will be colored by us. This should cause fear and trembling in any man and drive us to our knees ("Our Father in Heaven...!")
An Innate Longing
We were created to know and glorify the Father. Jesus prayed in John 17:2-4, "For you granted him authority over all people that he might give eternal life to all those you have given him. Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent. I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do." James writes in chapter 1:16-17 "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created."
Eternal life is to know the Father (and the Son.) The Father has chosen to give us birth. Why? so that we may be a kind of firstfruits (the best) of all he created. That we may complete the work given us to glorify Him. The search for meaning in our lives comes out of a desire to know God. Our lives only truly make sense in the context of sons and daughters of God. Outside of that we risk idolatry or a divided heart. ("The spirit He put in us longs jealously", "Love the Lord your God with ALL your heart, mind, soul and strength")
Romans 8:15-17 tells us "For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship [adoption]. And by him we cry, 'Abba, Father.' The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children. Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory."
...
"Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. [v. 23]"
There is much that can be said about these verses, but the clear theme is that we are children of God (spirit of Sonship/wait eagerly for our adoption) As sons, daughters and co-heirs we need to know the Father!
An Awesome Responsibility
Fatherhood is an awesome responsibility. Not only do we have the temporal concerns of provision, teaching, discipline and raising, but we have an eternal responsibility to be a true representation of God to our children. As fallen people in a fallen world we will never be able to do this perfectly - in fact, we will be amazingly imperfect. This means we need to not only do our best to represent the Father, but we also need to admit to our children that we are NOT the Father. We need to have the humility to ask for forgiveness and to admit our imperfection. This does not excuse bad behavior, poor judgement or honest mistakes - on the contrary, it gives us an opportunity to demonstrate the grace and mercy of God in our lives.
I have to admit that I don't really know how to fulfill this responsibility. It's one of the advantages of being in a community of beleivers - we fathers are all struggling under the weight(glory) of fatherhood. Together we encourage, teach, pray for and admonish one another. We want our children to know God, we want them to learn to pray, we want them to embrace their faith as their own. My own son is only 1.5 years old, so how do I demonstate who God is to Him? Does "don't throw your peas on the ground!" somehow translate into a show of God's discipline? Maybe. I think part of faith is trusting God to use our mistakes, our weakness, our humanity as a learning tool. We're supposed to learn more from our mistakes, right?
I suppose this brings us back to the Lord's Prayer. A simple prayer that properly aligns us to God, that allows us to submit to Him and admit that He is Father and King. "YOUR kingdom come, YOUR will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven." Daily bread, forgiveness, guidance. Each one a necessity in our lives. Each one a necessity if we are to succeed as Fathers.
The Hearts of the Fathers
A sobering parting thought: Malachi 4:5-6 has a sober prophecy regarding fatherhood: "See, I will send you the prophet Elijah before that great and dreadful day of the LORD comes. He will turn the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers; or else I will come and strike the land with a curse."
First, the good news: The Spirit of Elijah will be sent to turn the hearts of Fathers to their children and the children's hearts to their fathers. We could certainly use the help - as I look around, I see both incredible examples of fatherhood but also incredible failures. I see resentful children and aloof fathers. I also see devoted children and loving fathers. Is there a tipping point? I think so.
Here's the bad news: If the fathers' and children's hearts aren't turned it's not going to go well for the land. Curses are not good things. I pray for the spirit of Elijah to fill us so that we may do everything in our power to turn fathers' hearts especially.
John the Baptist had that spirit: "Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth. Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord." (Luke 1:14-17 italics added)
Can we go on before the Lord, in the power and the spirit of Elijah? I think we must. If we fail at fatherhood, if our hearts are not turned toward our children, we are doomed. Conversely, when hearts ARE turned, it is a tremendous blessing. Pray for the spirit of Elijah to come upon us.
Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Become a member...
FYI - If you are interested in becoming a member of this blog and want to post articles (and not just comments) Email me. This privelage is somewhat exclusive, mostly to maintain coherent threads and maintain some semblance of order. That being said, however, if you think you want to contribute more than just comments semi-regularly, let me know! Also - if you're really ambitious, you could start your own blog - it's super easy. If you do - let us know!
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