Prayer is the way we communicate to God, and how we express ourselves in prayer is personal and individual. But the content Jesus included when He instructed His disciples, “this is how you should pray” (Matthew 6:9-13), provides a model which may be helpful to you as a family.
As the days progress toward the season in which we celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus, I have found myself reflecting on the central, amazing truth that God became a man. I recognize that the Incarnation is beyond my comprehension, yet I have also experienced marvelous encouragement through meditating on it. Perhaps what has encouraged me most is a truth given to us in Hebrews 4: in Jesus, we have a high priest who can sympathize with us in our weaknesses, because He was tempted in every way that we are – “yet was without sin.”
Do you have a brother eating with the pigs? Have you hesitated to go to him? Have you judged him deserving of what he is bringing on himself? In the words of Paul from Romans 2:4, “Do you disregard the riches of God’s kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that His kindness leads to repentance?” Consider today how you might be an instrument of God’s kindness to that brother.
There is an old German proverb that says, “The main thing is that the main thing is always the main thing.” Let me suggest that this bit of sage advice reflects a spiritual truth. No matter what circumstances change; no matter what we feel or think; no matter what corrupt values pervade our culture; no matter what temptations attack us; God is Sovereign, and we exist for His glory, and He is at work in all things for the good of those who love Him to conform us to the likeness of His Son. The proverb expresses a spiritual reality in mundane language. Over my years as a Bible teacher, I have found it to be of some value to rephrase this old proverb to suggest a spiritual strategy: The main thing is to let the main thing be the main thing.
Marriage as a picture of Christ and the Church has been symbolized in the Christian wedding ceremony for generations. But, through the years, the emphasis in the ceremony has shifted to a greater and nearly exclusive focus upon the bride and her arrival. The entrance and activities of the groom, who should draw our attention to Christ, are seen as almost insignificant. But they are not.
Do you have a brother eating with the pigs? Have you hesitated to go to him? Have you judged him deserving of what he is bringing on himself? In the words of Paul from Romans 2:4, “Do you disregard the riches of God’s kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that His kindness leads to repentance?” Consider today how you might be an instrument of God’s kindness to that brother.
