A Prayer

Father,

We’ve been spending some time looking at what happened in Noah’s day. What a mess. There was evil everywhere. It started deep within, in the intentions of the thoughts of the heart. And it expressed itself outwardly with violence.

It says that You saw all of this, and it pained You. It also tells us that You destroyed it all as an expression of Your justice. And that certainly makes sense. It was so evil.

We take all of that, Father, and we think of our own day. And again the message that comes to us is the same. What a mess. There is evil everywhere. It starts deep within, in the intentions of the thoughts of the heart. And it expresses itself outwardly with violence.

We know that You see all of this. You see it more clearly than we do. And yet, You haven’t destroyed it all as an expression of Your justice. And that makes no sense. It is so evil.

But You have told us that You have a plan. You’re going to fix the mess that has been with us since the day that Adam sinned. At the heart of that plan is Jesus who is now Lord over heaven and earth. And You have assured us that this plan is going to work. The day will come when the evil will be gone, completely gone. And every intention of the thoughts of every heart will only be holy continually.

You also tell us that we have a role to play in this plan of yours. Your saints are to be the means that Jesus will use to change the world. We are the light of the world.

Father, while together, as Your Church, we are the light, we also know that each one will shine in a different way. We will have different callings. Help each of us know what You want us to do, and then help us to do it. And please, Father, encourage us in living out our callings. Doing this is hard, sometimes very hard.

But we know that one day You will grant our prayer, Thy kingdom come. One day all will be made right. We so look forward to that.

When that day arrives we will enjoy a new heavens and a new earth, pursuing new callings to the honor of Your Name. We thank You, Father, for this great promise of yours. It keeps us going.

And now bless us, Father, so that we might be faithful to what You have called us to. And we pray this through Christ our Lord, Amen.

Genesis 6.5-7, 11; Matthew 5.13-14