God–Father – What Does This Mean?

Encore Post: [Forty-Four in a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism] In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus teaches us not only how to pray, but what to pray for. Out of all the petitions he invites us to bring to the Father, only one talks about physical needs. So far, we’ve prayed for God’s name to be made holy, his kingdom to come, his will to be done. We will also pray to be forgiven, spared from temptation, and to be delivered from evil. Into this one petition, Jesus packs all of our physical needs for food, shelter, health, good government — in short — happy lives. This differs from what we actually pray for. Our every day struggles fill our prayers. Only occasionally do we get around to praying for spiritual blessings.

Why is this? To begin with, it is not wrong to pray for such things. This petition, in fact, invites us to do so. Also, Jesus very often calls on us to be persistent in prayer, to bring all our needs to God, to cast our cares on him. Prayer, in fact, is all about our relationship with the Father. What it is about is a matter of perspective.

Just like a good earthly father, God is at work providing for our daily needs. A small child does not see his father’s hard labor to make a living. How he pays the bills to keep the utilities on and put away money for education. She doesn’t see how he and her mother go to the store to buy food, tend a garden, buy or sew clothes and much more. All this he does because he loves her, even when she isn’t a model of sweet behavior. Yet he and her mother delights when the child comes and endlessly asks for these things.

So, God works to provide everything we need. We pray for them so that we remember all that he does for us, so that we do not worry about such things and so that we can focus on the work he gives us to do. It encourages us to remember how Jesus laid down his life for us, died for our sins and rose from the dead. In our greatest need, he provided what we most need — forgiveness of sins, life and salvation. When we pray for what we need, we see how he gives them to us and remember they are not so important. It allows us to remember that life is forever, and he will always care for us and be with us, in life, through death and into the life to come.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Encore Post: [Fortieth in a series of posts on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism] There is nothing subtle about little children. When loved ones come home after being away, they scream, “Daddy!” “Grandpa!” “Mommy!” “Grandma” and dash across the room to hug them. They have plenty to say, are ready to play and enjoy being with them. Martin Luther in the Small Catechism compares prayer to a child who comes to talk to his father. (Small Catechism, Lord’s Prayer, 3.1) God wants us to come to him and to ask for anything, knowing that he loves us, cares for us, wants the best for us and will answer our prayer.

In many religions, prayer is more about getting what you want from a god, an ancestor, a spirit, or some other supernatural being. It is often filled with attempts to manipulate the deity and to receive the desired result. These spirits are distant, not so interested in us or are fearful beings. Like the Wizard of Oz, you just don’t get near them.

Not so with our Heavenly Father. Prayer is more about our relationship with our Father, who loved us before he made the world, who made us and cares for us daily, who sent his Son to die for our sins and rise from death so that we might live with him forever. He wants us to come with him, to share our lives with him and to see how he acts to provide for us. After all, Luther points out, God knows what we need before we pray. We pray so that he will be a part of our everyday lives.

In our culture, there is no problem with talking to God. It is when he talks back that they think we’re crazy. But God speaks through his word, through the events in our lives and other Christians. We see his love in what he has done and will do for us. So it is that we pray to him in many ways, from a short one-liner or making the sign of the cross, to praise of him in hymns, to the formal prayers of the divine service and other times we gather as a church to pray. When we do so, we grow closer to our father in heaven, who loves it when we come to him and share our lives with him.

Originally posted at What does this Mean? Blog: https://whatdoesthismean.blog

The posts in the blog What does this Mean? are now available at What does this Mean? | Rev. Robert E. Smith | Substack

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Tag: God–Father

Daily Bread

Dear Children and their Dear Father