“Our Father in Heaven, (if You really are listening and care at all about what’s happening here on earth),
hallowed be Your name (even though I carelessly say “Oh my G**,” “G** D*** it,” and “J**** C*****” all the time),
Your kingdom come (just so long as it doesn’t interfere with my kingdom),
Your will be done
on earth as it is in heaven (as long as You don’t ask me to do anything that I don’t want to do and You do everything that I ask You to do).
Give us today our daily bread. (And to ease my fears that I might not have enough, why don’t You also give me tomorrow’s, next week’s, and next month’s daily bread right now? Or at least give me more than So-and-So. It’s not fair that they have so much more than I do.)
Forgive me my trespasses,
which are not nearly as bad as the trespasses of others against me. (So I don’t think I can really forgive them or that I should have to. In fact, make sure You bring down on their smug, little heads all the pain that they have caused me. Make them pay!)
And lead me not into temptation (for I spend enough time looking for it myself),
but deliver me from the evil one. (Even though I sometimes invite him into my life with my choices and make all sorts of compromises with him. And I’m not even really sure if there is an “evil one.” It’s too mystical-sounding. So it probably doesn’t even matter how I live my life because I am a Christian and You love me and You wouldn’t let anything bad happen to me.)
For Yours is the kingdom, but let me have the power and the glory for now, and I’ll worry about “forever” when I get there. Amen
Something just doesn’t sound right here, does it? But is there any part of this prayer that’s convicting? Read it again! Is there any part that honestly fits with how we are living? Do we really think about the words that we are saying when we pray? Do we let them deep into our hearts? Do we remember that we are talking to the God of the Universe? The God who desperately wants a genuine, life-changing relationship with us? Or have our prayers become repetitive, mindless words that we say so that we can check it off of our To Do list? Do we live like prayer matters?
