Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:10, NKJV.
Thank you God for another opportunity to sit in Your Presence and learn lessons of love and mercy from You. Then give us the courage to go out and bring Your kingdom of Grace to earth by practicing these principles. In the holy name of Jesus the Christ we pray. Amen.
Yesterday we looked at Jesus preaching and practicing the principles of the kingdom of Grace. These principles are all contained in the Gospel, the Good News of salvation! Is it any wonder then, that at the very beginning of His ministry Jesus proclaimed: “Repent, and believe in the gospel” (see yesterday’s devotional). If they were to live the way He was teaching them to pray, they would have to radically change the way they were doing business, and believe in what He, the Messiah, was both preaching and practicing – the Gospel of Grace!
And if we, God’s people, in the Twenty-first century, want to follow in the Master’s footsteps (1 John 2: 6), then we too, must “Repent” “believe” and both preach and practice the “Gospel” of Jesus Christ!
What would that look like?
We would be creating programs that take into consideration the needs of the poor. We would not feed only their bodies, but also their minds with the Good News that they are of great value in the sight of heaven. We would open doors of opportunity for them to be able to lead lives of dignity, by God’s grace.
Our prisons would be places where people are being prepared to return to society. People whose basic human rights to dignity and respect had formerly been denied them. There would be programs of true rehabilitation and forgiveness, that would make it possible for us to proclaim freedom to all who have been taken captive through addiction, abuse of every kind, and any other force of evil. We would be able to open the prison doors and let them go; knowing, that by the grace of God, they would no longer be a threat to society.
People dwelling in darkness would receive light! Those dwelling in spiritual darkness would have their eyes opened to the truth – that God loves them so much that He died to give them an opportunity to a better life – real life in Him! There would be affordable opportunities for people in intellectual darkness to obtain an education and reach their full potential and become a blessing to society. Those who dwell in the painful realm of emotional darkness would be able to throw off the miserable cloak of depression and hopelessness and step out into the sunshine of the Son of Righteousness. They would have access to Grace, in abundance!
Those who are oppressed for whatever reason: political, racial, financial or otherwise, would be set free thanks to the enactment of laws that acknowledge the fact that every human being is created in the image of God, and as such, has a right to all the opportunities that life has to offer; because at the foot of the cross, the ground has been made level by the grace of God!
Finally, we who have been saved by God’s amazing grace, would be going everywhere joyfully announcing the “acceptable year of the Lord” ; the year of Jubilee,, the year of freedom from sin and its baleful results! Because where sin abounds, grace abounds so much more!
Then, God’s will – will “be done on earth as it is in heaven.”