I Quit - Pt 7

Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. (Matthew 6:9-13 ESV). Our son, David, tells me that Maggie has decided she really doesn’t like the word “no.” Mary was on Face Time with them the other evening and Maggie was just being a busy little girl exploring the new limits she is developing each when she decided that climbing on the end table and standing up was a good idea. Of course, David said, “No. Get down.” As went to her and picked her up gently to set her on a safer spot, she simply stood straight as an arrow and started screaming. He said, “That’s her new thing. She doesn’t like no very well.” As grandparents that’s pretty easy to smile and chuckle a bit. As parents we knew that stage pretty well. Every child develops a will of their own. It happens early, often during a time we sometimes call “the terrible twos.” In our case, the boys developed that a bit earlier, and it looks like Maggie is following in her Daddy’s footsteps. An essential part of our surrender to God is the surrender of our will. The best example of this is Jesus. He came not to seek or do his own will but the will of his father. This is precisely what our attitude must be: to do not our will but God’s. We cannot be who God desires us to be if we don’t submit to his will. Only when we submit to his will can we gladly and fully accomplish his purpose for us. Our reading today is called “The Lord’s Prayer.” It includes the petition “Your will be done on earth as it is done in heaven.” This is a statement of surrender. It is very clear and complete. We are to do his will even if it “interferes” with our own will; we are to do so without stubbornly dragging our feet. Of course we need to know what that will is in order to surrender to it. We must know what his will for our lives is. Fortunately God has made it very clear for us through the revelation of Scripture and the life of Jesus. I often wonder how much most Christians really read the Bible. I know we turn to it in times of crisis. We look into some of the passages through Sunday School or corporate worship, but do we really read it? I’ve been reading the Scripture for a long time now and strangely there is something new in it each time I read it. My encouragement to you is that you read the Scripture each day. It will make the “yes” more frequent and the “no” easier to tolerate and accept. Start today with some extra little portion of reading in the Bible. I think you will find it easier and easier to increase that as you go further in your journey.