Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven

These fourteen words have been repeated countless times since Jesus taught us to pray. How many of us truly consider why Jesus gave us this model prayer, especially these specific fourteen words? Most Christians can recite the Lord's Prayer by heart; it rolls off the tongue effortlessly. But why did He ask us to pray: (1) Your kingdom come, (2) Your will be done, (3) on earth as it is in heaven?

How often do the words of the Lord's Prayer roll out effortlessly with no connection to our heart or mind? Jesus spoke about mindless prayers, saying, "These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me." Matthew 15:8. Jesus never lets us off the hook, asking, "What kind of believer are you if you crave glory and honor from one another, yet do not seek the glory and honor that comes from the only God?" John 5:44 (my paraphrase).

Many of us, me included, came to faith for the forgiveness of sin and eternity with God—in other words, "fire insurance Christianity." After all, who wants to go to that hot and burning place? Texas is hot enough for four months of the year! We understand sin; just look at a little child: "You hit me, I will hit you back!" "I don't want my toys; I'd rather have the toys other kids have!" You might think that's just childhood stuff, kids being kids. But consider Buckingham Palace: two sons of Queen Elizabeth, the boys she raised. They had everything most of us can only dream of! Both married beautiful women with the grandest marriage shows on earth; the entire world stayed up at night to see the spectacular weddings! Soon both grew tired of their beautiful brides. Now they wanted women who were somebody else's wife or some new "trophy girl." The consequences of not being satisfied with what you have have been playing out for all to see for decades.

Yes, forgiveness of sin and eternity in heaven are certainly the foundation of Christian faith. But it is much more than that. It is all about understanding the two kingdoms. Whether you have the resources of Buckingham Palace or are just barely scraping by to put food on the table and a roof over your head, you belong to one of these two kingdoms. You may know the Bible from Genesis to Revelation and can dazzle people with your biblical knowledge. But in the depth of your heart, do you know what kingdom you truly belong to—the Kingdom of Heaven or the kingdom of this world? Just because we raised our hand and murmured some words to take "fire insurance" to escape hell does not make you a Christian. "Going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than standing in the garage makes you a car," said Billy Sunday.

What do you really crave? That is the real question that identifies your kingdom! Those closest to us— the people we live with and close friends—know what kingdom rules we live by! In one village, famine was a common and normal way of life. A father, who was also a pastor in the village, felt deep pain watching his children malnourished. He stole a chicken from his neighbor. His wife prepared a meal, and everyone ate well. Since the children knew they had no chicken or money to buy one, they began to question their father about where the chicken came from. Finally, he admitted it was a stolen chicken. The kids asked, "But you preach 'don't steal'!" He responded, "That is for people in the church." No, it is not just for people in the village church or the two sons of Queen Elizabeth. God's kingdom rules apply to every truly born-again believer, from that village pastor to the sons of Queen Elizabeth and all the rest of us who happen to be between those two extremes of life. The question from Jesus Christ is, "What truly matters to you: honor and praise from people, or honor and praise from your Maker?"

King Jesus came to this earth 2,000 years ago with heavenly kingdom rules. Just as years are divided as BC and AD (before Christ and Anno Domini, Latin for 'the year of the Lord'), the Bible is divided into the Old and New Testaments. The Old Testament points to the coming of Jesus Christ into this world, and the New Testament is all about the life of Jesus Christ and His kingdom rules.

If each of us truly takes an inventory of our Christian life, most of us live by earthly kingdom rules. We like to make up our own rules that seem fair, just as in the Garden of Eden: "God knows that your eyes will be opened as soon as you eat it, and you will be like God, knowing both good and evil." Genesis 3:5. A big mansion, many toys, unbelievable accomplishments—we can let the entire world see how important we are on social media. Most of us (me included) call ourselves Christians, but we are lukewarm Christians. We want people to think highly of us, so we make every effort to follow earthly kingdom rules just to survive this "dog-eat-dog world." Jesus used these names for lukewarm Christians: "wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked." Because you are half-hearted, with this complacent faith, Jesus says, "I am about to spit [or vomit] you out of my mouth." Rev. 3:16. God's kingdom rules are far different from the silly rules we make up or the earthly kingdom rules we follow.

A man made his living using his dogs to fight. He would announce the time and place for his dogs to fight. People would gather and bet on which dog would win. The dog he picked always won, and he made a good living doing this. One of his friends confronted him about his secret! The dog owner told him, "It is no secret; the dog I fed the night before the fight always wins the fight."

Understanding which kingdom rules, you live by is very much like that dog owner. If you feed all the garbage to your heart and mind, you will behave accordingly. Mark Twain once said, "It ain't those parts of the Bible that I can't understand that bother me, it is the parts that I do understand and don't obey them that bother me."

I have always thought the prosperity gospel is the biggest hogwash; nothing is worse than "your best life now." Get-rich-quick snake oil salesmen and women tell people to send them their money, and gullible people send their hard-earned money. These fraudsters and con artists live rich and affluent lives with minimal effort. I used to wait for the next book from Philip Yancey, Dr. Steve Lawson, and Ravi Zachariah. I thought these were truly men of God who could speak and write about things of God and mesmerize their readers and listeners with talent very few exhibited. Finally, their sins caught up to them. Those books are now worthy of bonfires!

They are just the tip of the iceberg. One thing these three and countless snake oil salesmen and women taught the world: a double life is quite easy. If they have some real oratorical skill and a bunch of ghostwriters, then wealth, fame, speaking engagements, and universities line up with their honorary degrees. Those three names I mentioned above may never have heard these quotes: "Sooner or later your sin will be found out" or "You can fool all the people some of the time, and some of the people all the time, but you cannot fool all the people all the time." There is a God who knows our every thought and knows what we are going to say before we say it. We can never fool that God.

"I have hidden God's Word in my heart, that I might not sin against God."

"Turn my eyes from worthless things, Oh God, and give me life through your word."

"Help me abandon my shameful ways; for your regulations are good." Psalms 119:11, 37, 39 Whoever wrote Psalm 119 was not living to please mortal people, here today and gone tomorrow. He lived and wrote that Psalm to please his Maker with a desire to please God with the Kingdom of Heaven's rules in mind.

That is the reason King Jesus Christ taught us to pray, "God's will be done in your life and my life." He is asking us to pray, "God's will be done on earth as it is in heaven." He came from heaven for us to follow the kingdom rules of heaven. The silly rules you and I make up or follow that other fools made up, when we follow them, the end result is: "People didn't realize what was going to happen until the flood came and swept them all away. That is the way it will be when the Son of Man comes." Matthew 24:39. "Anyone who hears my teaching and doesn't obey is like a foolish person who builds a house on sand. When the rains and floods come and the winds beat against that house, it will collapse with a mighty crash." Matthew 7:26-27.

When all is said and done, what matters for each of us is that we all have an end date; none of us know that date. "When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we also appear with him in glory." Col. 3:4. The exit strategy from this fallen world to heaven is not what truly matters. What truly matters is the life we live progressively with a heavenly mind. King Jesus left the glories of heaven and hung on a cross for us to live with heavenly kingdom rules—less like us and more to reflect the life Jesus lived on this earth.