Wisdom from the Lord’s Prayer (Part I of III)
Every Sunday morning, the Sunday school class for the young children began with everyone praying the Lord’s Prayer. This Sunday, the teacher asked the children, “What can we learn from the Lord’s Prayer?”
A little girl shyly, and in a soft voice, said, “God’s name.”
“God’s name?” wondered the Sunday school teacher.
“And what name does this prayer give to God?” asked the teacher.
“Art,” replied the girl, “because the prayer says, ‘Our Father who art in heaven; so God’s name must be Art!”
Before the teacher could absorb this monumental fact that God’s name is Art, up went the hand of a little boy who said the prayer revealed that God knows each person by their name. With great reluctance and yet anticipation, the teacher asked the young boy where in the prayer do we learn that God knows each of us by name.
“Doesn’t the prayer say,” said the boy, ‘Our Father who art in heaven,’ how did you know my name?”’
What does the Lord’s Prayer say to you? Is it just a church prayer to be prayed only on Sunday? Are there some uplifting and spiritually guiding truths for life beneath the surface of the words? Let us take a quick look at the Lord’s Prayer.
Matthew 6:9 (Jesus praying), ... “Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be Thy name.”
The Biblical image of God presents God as a loving Father. This is especially true in the teachings of Christ, which refer to God as “Father” no less than 160 times (Coffman, p. 79). God is man’s Holy Father because God created man, sustains him, and provides all that man (and woman) needs.
The ancient Greeks believed their gods were easily angered, vengeful, and grudging and the last thing their gods wished to do was to help man. Oh, how comforting and encouraging to the heart and to the soul to be absolutely positive that the Godly power of this world is not an uncaring god, not a capricious god, but a God whom we call Father.
The Lord’s Prayer does not teach us to pray “My Father;” it teaches us to pray “Our Father.”
If God is our Holy Father, He is the Holy Father of all men and women. Nowhere in this prayer are the words I, me, my, or mine. God is not any person’s exclusive possession. The very phrase, “Our Father” involves the elimination of selfish considerations.
“... hallowed be Thy name.”
We must never use the word Father in regard to God cheaply, easily, and sentimentally. God is not an easy-going parent who tolerantly shuts His eyes to all sins, faults and mistakes. This God, whom we call our Holy Father, is the God whom we must still approach with reverence and adoration, awe and wonder. We must always honor God because His nature and character deserve and demand it. Hallowed means holy and our God, even though He is forever our heavenly Father, is still a holy God.
Next time: God’s kingdom, God’s will, and our immediate necessities, all considered, in part II of “Wisdom from the Lord's Prayer.”
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Chris Voss is a pastor at First Christian Church, 317 S. Main, Donna.