For Thine Is the Kingdom, And The Power, And The Glory

¹“And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.” (Matthew 6:13). As children of the Lord God Almighty, that King of Kings, it is only natural that we should aspire to have a kingdom of our own, just like our Father. But like a small child trying on their parent’s oversized clothes and shoes and stumbling about, we are not yet ready for our own kingdom. That's not good enough for some of us. We're going to set up our own kingdom right now, thank you very much. The problem is, we don't yet have what it takes to run our own kingdom. We can try to control everything in our lives and make it perfect and get on everyone else's nerves and fall to pieces every time some little imperfection worms its way in, but we're only driving ourselves and everyone else crazy. This is not our kingdom. We don't have the power to run it as competently and efficiently as our Heavenly Father does. Far from filling us with an inevitable sense of dread, the idea that the kingdom and the power and the glory belong to God should take a tremendous weight off of us. We don't have to have everything figured out. We are not responsible for all of the good and bad things that happen to us and to others. As much as we might wish it were otherwise, we don't have the power to save everyone or fix all of the world's problems. And that means that we don't need or deserve glory or credit for the good things we do. We are but instruments in the hands of God. We can do nothing in and of ourselves. But we have been promised that if we are faithful than everything that God has, His Kingdom, and His Power, and His Glory will one day be ours. Why should we spend so much time trying to hold together our little broken kingdom with spit and prayers when one day God is going to give us His whole Kingdom? Why should we allow ourselves to get so bent out of shape that we are so weak and powerless when we have never had to do anything with only our power but have access to God’s power both now and in the world to come? Why should we jealously hide under a bushel our tiny candle of glory when God is prepared to share with us the blazing glory of the noonday sun? The Kingdom and the power and the glory belong to God forever and ever but if we are humble enough to let go of our own ambitions for a time and submit to our Father's will, then His Kingdom and power and glory will also belong to us forever and ever.