Your kingdom, come!

I love the Lord’s Prayer. I’m glad that I learned it as a child, even if I barely understood it.

The core of the Lord’s Prayer is the cry for the kingdom to come, that God’s will be done on earth as in heaven.

I used to think that God’s will is done perfectly in heaven, and I was praying for earth to be like heaven. But I’ve been looking at Revelation recently and I don’t think heaven is that simple. I now think I’m praying for God’s will to be done in both places. There’s a thought.

The kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. (Romans 14:17)

As I write this, the news is about missile attacks. It could be about refugees, violence, housing, poverty, the environment, or any number of issues. We need the kingdom. Desperately.

When Jesus describes this kingdom, he summarises it in one instruction: do to others as you want them to do for you. Imagine a world where everyone did that.

Now pray for it.

And when we realise how far short we have fallen, we ask for God’s forgiveness. That’s in the Lord’s Prayer too.

Let us pray.

James