THE WHOLE THRUST OF THE LORD’S PRAYER

To be effective, [the Lord’s] prayer must flow out of a truly committed heart: it must be the definition of our spirit, our attitude to God.

An unknown author put it this way: “I cannot say ‘our’ if I live only for myself. I cannot say ‘Father’ if I do not try to act like His child. I cannot say ‘who art in heaven’ if I am laying up no treasure there. I cannot say ‘hallowed be Thy name’ if I am not striving for holiness. I cannot say ‘Thy kingdom come’ if I am not doing all my power to hasten it. I cannot say ‘give us this day our daily bread’ if I am dishonest, or seeking something for nothing. I cannot say ‘forgive us our trespasses’ if I bear a grudge against another. I cannot say ‘lead us not into temptation’ if I deliberately place myself in its path. I cannot say ‘deliver us from evil’ if I do not put on the armor of God. I cannot say ‘Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory’ if I do not give the King the loyalty due to Him from a faithful subject. And I cannot say ‘forever’ if the horizon of my life is bounded completely by time.”

The whole thrust of the Lord’s prayer is that when we give God His rightful place, He gives us our rightful place. But not before.

-- Selwyn Hughes in “Every Day Light: Treasure for the Heart”

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