SCRIPTURE - Matthew 6:9-10 (NIV)

“Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” 

Without a doubt, our world is a mess: Covid 19; demonstrations; high unemployment; personal struggles and almost continuous bad news in the 24 news cycle. Personally I find it better to limit the amount of time I listen to the news because it is so depressing. 

It is against this backdrop that the beginning of the Lord’s prayer catches us by surprise - if we think about the implications of what it means. We are to pray that God’s kingdom would come and that His will would be done on earth as it is in heaven. Take all the bad news of our world and, into the middle of that mess, we are to pray this seemingly crazy prayer. Yet it is what Jesus tells us to do.

How can that actually happen? First, think about this. God sends His followers into every corner of our communities and as they go to the courthouse, schoolhouse, police station, hospital, auto  repair shop, or wherever He has us we are His representatives, His church, His people in that place. We gather as a church once a week but we scatter as a church six days a week, and as the scattered church, we bring the righteousness of God into an often unrighteous place.

You see, God’s will is done on earth as it is in heaven when we bring the character and values of God to the corner of the world where He has placed us. When I treat people with dignity and fairness, when I live with integrity and don’t cut ethical corners, when I encourage and uplift others rather than ignore or discourage them; when I share the reason for my own hope in Jesus - as we do all these things and more, we bring little bits of heaven to the place where God has put us for His purposes. When we bring the fruit of the Holy Spirit to the places we inhabit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self control - we are bringing God’s Kingdom to earth in a very real way.

And don’t forget the power of God to break into impossible looking situations and change them for His glory. This is why we are to pray this prayer. We are part of the equation as we represent Him and His way in the places where we find ourselves, but He has the power to change what looks to us as an impossible situation. If He can change the very course of history, He can break into the places we live and work and change those things that we bring to Him in prayer. He wants to break in and see His will done in our community as it is in heaven. 

Today, be the one who brings the character, values and hope of Jesus to each place you go. To the cashier at the grocery store, the customers you encounter, the neighbors you interact with or your own staff. As you do, you will bring little bits of heaven to places and people that desperately need them. And pray that God would do something extraordinary through His power.

Father, I pray today that Your will would be done on earth - in the places I go and with the people I meet today - as it is in heaven. Use me in Your power to join You in this mission. Help me to represent Your kingdom values well. Amen.