Reflecting on the Lord's Prayer

 The disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray and Jesus taught them the "Our Father" or what we often call The Lord's Prayer.  The petitions in the prayer are all encompassing and cover all of life.  

The petition "deliver us from evil.."  has always given me pause.  What is evil ?  

One definition of evil is "causing distress or harm."  Though we can make a good case against drugs, criminals and the boogey man, I  find that I am the biggest source of evil in my life.  I cause distress and harm to myself!  Yes, with ill chosen words and thoughtless deeds I manage quite nicely to create distress in my life.  

The Good News is that Jesus has come to bring transformation into my life!   He wants to work in my life and change ill chosen words to healthy, life-giving words and thoughtless deeds into deeds of thoughtfulness.  

To remind  me of this invitation to have Jesus live in my life, I have condensed the Lord's Prayer to this simple plea "Lord, deliver me from myself."  Short and sweet and sincere. 

The next time you pray the Lord's Prayer think about each petition and when you come to "but deliver us from evil," pause.  

Take that moment to confess and receive new life so " the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever," can reign in your life, too.  

Amen, come Lord Jesus, Amen.

(Pictured below is the view from an open-air chapel called "Pretty Place" at a YMCA camp in South Carolina. www.campgreenville.org   Only 45 minutes from our North Carolina home.)