Original Broadcast: May 2009
Monthly Theme: The Lord's Prayer
[Jesus said:] "For this is the will of My Father,
that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in Him should have eternal life,
and I will raise him up on the Last Day."
(John 6:40)
The Third Petition of the Lord's Prayer requests "Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven." Luther's explanation of this petition shows that this petition, being the third and final petition concerning God's eternal attributes, is a summary of the previous petitions.
"God's will is done when He breaks and hinders every evil plan and purpose of the devil, the world, and our sinful nature, which do not want us to hallow God's name or let His kingdom come" (SC III, 4b). "We thus ask that all opposition to God's will might be removed from the earth, and especially from our own hearts. We ask for the freedom to conform our desires and deeds more fully to God's, so that we might be completely delivered from our sin. We yield ourselves, in life and in death, to God's will" (PCUSA Catechism, Question 129).
This petition, at least for me, is the hardest petition to pray. As Christians, we truly do want God's will to be done. As sinners, we only want God's will to be done if it's done on our time table. But what is God's will? To believe in His Son so that we may inherit eternal life and be raised again on the Last Day. We want the Last Day to get here now. We want to be rid of the problems that we pray against in the rest of the Lord's Prayer. Part of faith is believing that God is in control. That faith will lead you through this life and into the everlasting life for which we wait. Amen.
