The Lord’s Prayer is the main example of prayer that Jesus Himself gave us. It is used as a prayer in itself but also to show us how to pray. I want to examine the line; “lead us not into temptation”. What exactly is Jesus saying?
Well it is simple; we are asking God not to give us too much. To limit us to the amount we can handle.
“Give us too much?” What’s that supposed to mean?
First we must realize God tempts no one, but sin turns blessings into temptation. We are sinful by nature; we unfortunately lack self control in many areas. If the Lord gives us His bounty in His loving way we can be overwhelmed. See we all need things in life to survive; water, food, shelter just to name a few. God loves to give us these things and the Bible tells us some will be given more. Does that mean they should consider themselves rich? By no means; that is the danger of temptation. When we receive more than we can use we are tempted to store it away and claim ownership of the blessing. God provides what we need and the rest is to be used for the blessing of others. It is not for us to hide away, it is to be used wisely. He will show you how if you let Him.
Luke 12 (NIV Bible)
The Parable of the Rich Fool
16 And he told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. 17 He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’
18 “Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. 19 And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”
20 “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’
21 “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.”
The blessings that God gives are not ours alone; he expects us to manage those blessings wisely. Trust God to guide your steps in all you do. He will not “lead you into temptation” “but deliver you from evil”
Pastor Scott
