Devotional Thought of the Day…

 ⁹  This, then, is how you should pray: ‘Our Father in heaven: May your holy name be honored; ¹⁰  may your Kingdom come; may your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. ¹¹  Give us today the food we need. ¹²  Forgive us the wrongs we have done, as we forgive the wrongs that others have done to us. ¹³  Do not bring us to hard testing, but keep us safe from the Evil One.For yours is the Kingdom and the Power and the Glory, now and forever! AMEN Matthew 6:9-13 (TEV)

³¹  “So do not start worrying: ‘Where will my food come from? or my drink? or my clothes?’ ³²  (These are the things the pagans are always concerned about.) Your Father in heaven knows that you need all these things. ³³  Instead, be concerned above everything else with the Kingdom of God and with what he requires of you, and he will provide you with all these other things. Matthew 6:31-33 (TEV) 

857 The Kingdom of Jesus Christ: that is our task! So, my child, be generous: don’t be anxious to know any of the many reasons he has to want to reign in you. If you look at him, it will be enough for you to consider how much he loves you… You will feel a hunger to correspond to his love, crying aloud that you really love him here and now; and you will understand that if you don’t leave him, he won’t leave you.

Back in the 1990’s there was a controversy over what it meant for Jesus to be our Lord.  Interestingly, it focused not on God, but on our obligation to God, or more precisely the code of behavior laid down in scripture. On one side, there was a focus on complete obedience to Christ as the only way to be sure we were in God’s will.  On the other side, there were pastors and theologians who took a position that since faith alone saves, our behavior had little to do with our salvation – but rather affected our peace and comfort in this life.

The battle seems to be raging anew – with different descriptions, – the latter group being called anti-nomians, the former pietists  Old labels for sure, but being applied anew.  I chose a different translation for the second passage – we usually hear it as “seek first the Kingdom” – but this to comes on the heals of realizing God’s promise to provide, so that we can focus on living in a relationship with Him. As we focus on what God requires os us, especially we hear His invitation for us to walk humbly with Him

The challenge is realizing that these views are arguing about Christ’s Lordship by looking at th wrong subject.  They start by looking at responsibility in the relationship – but they set their priority in the wrong place.  It all starts with the master’s responsibility, not ours.  IF we are to understand the Lordship of Christ, if we are to understand what it means that He is our master, we must begin there…We must begin by seeing His commitment to us.

As He teaches us to pray, look at what is promised to us, look at the things God is taking responsibility for in our lives. Look at the burdens He would have us place in His hands

I love the point St Josemaria makes – we can think all day of why God would choose to call us, to walk with us.  We can try to comprehend all of His logic, to analyze it, to create the theological systems   But what if instead, we looked to God, we knew His love, we expored, as Paul urged the height and depth, the breadth and width of that love.  What would happen if we looked at His commitment, HIs faithfulness, HIs desire – and our thoughts and our heart were focused there?  The resulting response by us as we consider His love as we bask in it, as we realize he loves us, will cause be far more of a change than we could ever negotiate on our own.Looking to His love, knowing it, will see that love work and create a level of trust and bind us to Him.

That’s the point – Christ being our Lord and Master is a promise to us, a promise that He will care for us, be there for us, that He loves us.

And in the end, it becomes even closer, as we hear him say, “I know longer call you servants…but friends”

Be at peace – for you live in Christ Jesus.

Escriva, Josemaria (2011-01-31). The Forge (Kindle Locations 3035-3039). Scepter Publishers. Kindle Edition.