Get my meaning?

One of my struggles is with the repetition of the Lord's Prayer. I have been saying the words of that prayer since I was a small child, and know it utterly inside out, and yet I find it very difficult to mean it as I pray it – my tongue rushes away with itself before my brain can register the words!

The problem with repeating the same words and phrases is that the initial link between the meaning and the words used to express that meaning seems to degrade. In spontaneous speech, you start with the meaning you want to express and then attach the words you require to express it – but when you repeat the same words over and over again, the form becomes more prominent than the meaning. In fact, to retain the meaning in those words, you have to work very hard to re-establish the link.

I suspect that Jesus' prayer as recorded in Matthew and Luke was not supposed to be a mantra but a model.

Having talked about repetition in my last blog entry, it only makes sense to talk about variety now. In my eyes, the Bible always repeats itself in meaning, but varies its form. The poetry of the Psalms, the speeches of the prophets and the stories of Genesis can convey the same meanings through different words.

So what is the core meaning of Jesus' prayer? I think it is about putting things right.

Jesus was not a conformer to his contemporary Jewish culture – he was a radical. He came to put right the people of God, physically by his sacrifice and verbally by his words. In essence, Jesus' prayer turns our thinking from that of a sinner to that of the saved. You see, before Christ, the people of God were seeking constant mercy from an unapproachable Almighty God. Because of their sin and His holiness, they were appointed a representative – the High Priest – who by God's mercy was allowed to approach God and ask for atonement, and even he would die if he entered unbidden (see Leviticus 16). What a far cry from Adam and Eve walking with God in Eden!

It is Jesus' sacrifice that puts this right – and the first word of his prayer indicates this restored relationship. We, in Jesus' model prayer, are reminded that the Almighty God is now our Father: approachable, loving, forgiving, merciful, disciplining and just.

The model of the Lord's Prayer helps restructure our thinking to this new way of living – it puts right what sin put wrong. When we pray, we must start by remembering that we do not pray to a distant, justly angry God; through Christ, we pray to a perfect Father, who longs to give good things to His children. We bring our requests before God like a child to his Father, not like a servant to his master.

Father, help me to approach your throne with the confidence that comes from being your child – needing neither to fear you nor to grovel before you, but coming freely and intimately to talk to you.

Over and over again

My husband is rather cynical about church. Quite often, after hearing another recounting of the gospel, or another talk on money, he complains that it has been said before. And it’s not just him that notices and dislikes the repetitiveness – I distinctly remember my mother criticising some of my early writing because she'd heard it all before. I'm thinking, 'but it's the gospel! It's the truth! Isn't it good to repeat it?'

It was in church yesterday that I realised the same accusation could be levelled at Christ. Listening to (yet another) talk on money, the preacher noted the fact that Christ talked about money again and again in Luke – in chapters 6, 7, 9, 12, 14, 15, 16, 18, 19, 20 and 21, to be exact. In fact, looking across the whole Bible, it's repetitiveness is quite obvious – the Psalms repeatedly praise and acknowledge God's characteristics again and again (look up the word faithfulness in a concordance and see how many Psalms refer to it); God's promise of a Saviour from Genesis is not only directly repeated to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, but also referenced in God’s repetitive salvation of his people; the New Testament teachings, especially Paul's letters, constantly reiterate the gospel (read chapter one of Romans!); and we even have four accounts of Jesus' life which closely mirror one another.

Why does God find it necessary to repeat himself again and again?

Well, I think there are two reasons.

Firstly, we don’t learn. Like the Israelites, we can forget what God has told us and build another idol in record speed. We need repetition to remind us what it’s all about – and who it’s all about. Otherwise, we get lost in our own, self-centred ideals.

Secondly, the world conveys its empty philosophies repetitively. Take sex, for example. You will agree with me that sex is treated very differently by our secular post-modern society than by God. And it’s everywhere! Just count how many adverts you pass on your way to work, school or the shops which suggest every man or woman shall have sexual/relational success if they use [insert material product]. And how much of the young girl’s magazine is full of worldly opinions of sex – ‘wait until you feel right before having sex’? I could go on. The point is, the world repeats its ungodly philosophy of life constantly in newspapers, in books and magazines, in music, in adverts on billboards and the internet, on TV, in shopping centres, and even in the school curriculum. We need to hear the gospel again and again because the world is so noisy in shouting it out of our heads, replacing God’s truth with self-sufficiency and self-promotion. We need reminding to use money and possessions for God because the world constantly whispers materialistic worship into our ears. We need to be reminded of the truths about sex and relationships because the world is preaching a self-gratifying view of sex and a self-centred view of relationships.

Not that God’s word is not infinitely more powerful than the world’s – but if we don’t repetitively listen to God’s word and hear His truth time after time, we will slowly slip into the mindset of the world, blinded by the hollow haze of wrong messages. Instead, ‘be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may test and approve what God’s will is’ (Romans 12:2).

Oh, the joys of those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or stand around with sinners, or join in with mockers. But they delight in the law of the Lord, meditating on it day and night. They are like trees planted along the riverbank, bearing fruit each season. Their leaves never wither, and they prosper in all they do. Psalm 1:1-3 (NLT)

Let’s not be afraid of repeating the truths of the Word of God – He was not afraid to repeat Himself, because He knew what His people were up against.