Thy_King.com

...Thy Will Be Done

The following is a devotional I just finished writing for the Greater Milwaukee Synod's Daily Lenten Devotions that you can find on their blog throughout Lent:

John 14:14-17

"If in my name you ask me for anything, I will do it. If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you."

Why do so many people in the world die of starvation? Why do so many people in our country wander our streets for lack of a home? Why do so many women and children fall victim to abuse in our "safe" neighborhoods, yet don't receive the help they need to escape the violence?

All of this suffering is even more tragic when we realize that it is preventable. If God really wants to make everthing better then it would happen, right? After all, God is all-powerful and Jesus tells us that he'll do whatever we ask of him. What's he waiting for? Get with it, Jesus!

Well, maybe Jesus had something else in mind when he told his followers he would grant them anything they asked in his name. See, he wasn't giving us a recipe. This is no "Prayer of Jabez" scam. He's not talking about a magic formula we can use to get want we want. Jesus doesn't respond to a name-it-and-claim-it pursuit to receiving our own blessing. Rather, he's telling us to get involved in what he is already doing on our streets and in our neighborhoods, because that is what's blessed by God. Praying in Jesus' name means living in the world how Jesus does, and where Jesus is.

The true blessing Jesus has in store for us is to be united with God, to live in the communion of Father, Son, Holy Spirit. So it's no wonder Jesus tells us about the Trinity when he invites us to pray in his name. Our Father sends Holy Spirit to abide with us forever so that we may keep his Son's commandment to love our neighbor as he first loved us.

But be aware: Jesus shows us that his way of living in the world through love leads to the cross. He does respond to our prayers for him to save us from suffering. It's just not the easy solution we often expect. Instead, he answers our cries by freeing us to share in a death like his, because we know we also share in a resurrection like his. In walking with the poor alongside Jesus, we experience now the communion with God that awaits us in heaven.

So perhaps part of the tragedy of suffering is that we're not tuned in to the Spirit of truth guiding us through the most simple and unexpected of ways. Take for example Belinda Carlisle's famous love ballad from the '80s:

When I feel alone,
I reach for you and you bring me home,
When I'm lost at sea,
I hear your voice, and it carries me.
In this world we're just beginning,
to understand the miracle of living,
Baby I was afraid before;
I'm not afraid, anymore...

Oohh baby do you know what that's worth?
Oohh, heaven is a place on earth.
They say in heaven, love comes first.
We'll make heaven a place on earth.

Pray that Holy Spirit will lead us to Jesus, who shows us the love of his Father here and now. "Thy kingdom come! Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."