Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Let Your Kingdom Come

Let Your Kingdom Come

Let your kingdom come.
Let your will be done
on earth as it is done in heaven.

 Matthew 6:10


We should not pray, "Dear Father, let us come into your kingdom, as though it's a place to which we travel.  Instead we pray, "Let your kingdom come." For if we're to receive it at all, God's grace and kingdom with all its virtues must come to us.  We will never be able to go to him.  In the same way, Christ came to us--from heaven down to earth.  We didn't go up to him from earth to heaven.

Another mistake of those who pray the Lord's Prayer is that they only think about their eternal happiness.  They understand the kingdom of God to mean nothing but joy and pleasure in heaven.  thinking from an earthly, physical perspective and fearing hell, they only seek their own benefit and advantage in heaven.  These people don't realize that God's kingdom is nothing but godliness, chastity, purity, gentleness, tenderness, and kindness.  His kingdom is full of every virtue and grace.  They don't know that God must have his way and that he along lives and reigns in us.  This should be our first and foremost desire.  We are saved only when God reigns in us, and we become his kingdom.

We don't have to seek or ask for joy, happiness, or anything else that we may desire.  Rather, all of this comes along with God's kingdom.  So to help us avoid wanting what is false and selfish, Christ tells us to seek first God's kingdom itself, not the fruits of the kingdom.  But those who seek the fruits of God's kingdom seek the back end of God's kingdom.  They seek the last part first, and the first part they value only because of its ultimate benefits.

(365 Devotional Readings from Martin Luther.  Through Faith Alone.  Page for August 14.  Concordia Publishing House.)

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That is so wonderful.  I love that.  Lord grant us true faith and love.  Let your kingdom come to us.

2 comments:

Hildegard said...

Dear Brigitte, Thank for this! I was just now praying our Lords prayer, stopped momentarily at this very petition, opened your blog, and was blown away. This is exactly how I was feeling, and am thankful to have had this excellent description at this moment. I should get this book. :-) Thanks very much! Now on to ask that His will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. God bless you.

Brigitte said...

It's an awesome little book. I highly recommend it. We are reading it every day this year.