So… how did it go?

A month ago I asked all of you to take a plunge with me and find time to pray a simple prayer, “Lord Jesus Christ, Risen Son of the Living God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” (You can read the post here.)

How did it go? I have been considering how deep that little prayer over this past month… and I don’t think that I have found the bottom of the rabbit hole yet!

Here are a couple of thoughts:

“Lord”

Yep, I got one word into the prayer before I needed to stop! In the time of Jesus, the statement, “this-or-that-person is lord,” was a treasonous statement, because the phrase should have only been applied to one person: the Cesar. “Cesar is Lord,” is the way that phrase should have gone… but Christians say it about Jesus… And this phrase has so many implications.

• If Jesus is Lord, then no one else is.
• If Jesus is Lord, then He gets to rule how He wants to.
• If Jesus is Lord, then even when earthly rulers change, the true ruler has not changed.
• If Jesus is Lord, then I need to submit to Him and what He wants.
• If Jesus is Lord, then I need to ask myself, “is He my lord?”

“Living God”

I really would like to break down every single word in that prayer, but we can do that in person over a cup of coffee, tea, beer, or whiskey if you like! The idea that God is alive and active in this world takes my breath away every time I think about it. This world is incredibly complex! It only takes a couple clicks of your mouse, or a few taps on your screen to find some good videos online about the beauty of the way that the individual cell in a human body works. And only a few more to find something about the vastness of the cosmos. But God is alive and active in ALL of it. And so it humbles me that He would love a broken person like me.

“Mercy”

I have a tattoo on my right arm that holds the Latin phrase, “Simul Justus et Peccator.” It roughly translates to, “simultaneously justified and sinner.” It was how Luther understood the crazy reality that humans are totally wrecked by sin (their own and others) and at the same time totally righteous in God’s eyes. And it is because of God’s act of mercy, by dying for us while we were still sinners, that we can find ourselves in this wonderful state! God interacts with us through mercy because He is a God of mercy… and it still blows me away.

 

What about you? Did this short prayer impact you over the last month? If you didn’t get a chance to try it out, there is no reason to not use this next month as the one where you dedicate yourself and your life to praying a bit more often! I am going to keep doing it, because there is more to mine in this simple prayer. Will you join me?