In our church, we pray the Lord’s prayer on a weekly basis. It is a beautiful prayer that Jesus used in response to the request by his disciples that He might teach them to pray. I love this prayer and yet I find it deeply convicting.

For instance, we pray: “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on EARTH as it is in heaven.” While those words come easily to my lips, they haunt me with their profound implications. Those words remind me that being heavenly minded has a lot more to do with the here and now than with the “sweet by and by.”

The news of the Kingdom of God is the good news of the gospel. The good news the disciples proclaimed is that Jesus frees us from the reign of sin and enables us to live to the glory of God in the present. The Kingdom of God has come, is here now, and will be fully present in a day yet to come.

But, this kingdom is unlike anything we have ever seen. It is a kingdom of mercy, grace, hope, and justice contrasted to the kingdoms of power, wealth, and might that we are so enamored with.

What would it look like if we, as Christians, tried to be the answer to the prayer “on earth as it is in heaven?” I think our words and our actions would be marked by humility, our pocketbooks opened to help the hurting of our world, our arms ready to embrace, our lips filled with grace rather than hate-filled and blustering words, and our hearts enamored with the good news of the gospel.

Regardless of the specific solution in the area of healthcare, we would be overwhelmed with the desire that we provide decent coverage for the sick and hurting of our country. Rather than focusing on kneeling or not kneeling at trivial football games, perhaps we might hear the cries to speak to racial tension and division in our country.

Kingdom living is messy – it is hard – it is inconvenient. It is denying self, taking up the cross daily and living the glory of God in our communities and neighborhoods. May God help us!

Our Father, which art in heaven,
Hallowed be thy Name.
Thy Kingdom come.
Thy will be done on earth,
As it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts,
As we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
But deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
The power, and the glory,
For ever and ever.
Amen.