“I find that doing of the will of God leaves me no time for disputing about His plans.”
George MacDonald (1824-1904)–Scottish author, poet and minister–influenced a very impressive group of people: Lewis Carroll, C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, Madeleine L’Engle, G.K. Chesterton and Mark Twain.
May his words influence all of us.
Thy will be done.
I tend to make that my prayer of last resort.
That’s not what Christ taught his disciples back in Galilee. It should be my prayer of first—and only—resort.
You pray, Thy will be done. Do you mean it?
Our lips say the words, yes. But do our hearts agree?
Matthew 6:10 (NIV)
Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
In heaven, I’m sure, God isn’t put on hold because the angels want to sleep in, or because they are mad at each other, or because they are worried what others will think, or because they have other plans, or because they want to be comfortable.
Thy will, no excuses.
Did you ever notice how some people who have been visited by the sins of their parents repeat those same sins? And others do the exact opposite?
There is only only one way what to leave it all behind.
Jeremiah 26:13 (NIV)
Now reform your ways and your actions
and obey the LORD your God.
God’s way is always the right way.
Deuteronomy 5:9 (ESV)
I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and fourth generation.
When I happen upon someone bearing the weight of his or her parent’s sin, I pray:
May this be the third or fourth generation.
O Lord, let it end here.
Exodus 20:5-6 (NLT)
I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those who love me and obey my commands.
I used to think that God was cruel, visiting the sins of the parents on their children. I totally missed the second half of the verse.
God is good: the sin’s effects are limited to three or four generations. Love flows forward to a thousand generations.
What will your descendants inherit from you?
I come from a family with Huntington’s Disease. I didn’t inherit that defective gene. In that I am fortunate. And that’s better than money or property.
But we can leave something better than good genes.
We can leave behind a pathway paved with prayers.
When I pray for others, I am focused on what is best at this moment in time. Jesus is focused on what is best for all eternity. What I see as urgent looks very different to him.
Revelation 22:13 (NIV)
I am the Alpha and the Omega,
the First and the Last,
the Beginning and the End.
What do I really want? The quick fix, or the eternal good?
