"Blessing, and glory, and wisdom,
and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen."
Revelation 7:12
I fear that the practice of saying Grace before a meal is falling by the wayside in American homes.
Perhaps it is partly because families no longer even eat meals together.
Some though have developed a theology of non-practice of such a custom deeming it to be something "traditional" or "rote". I have heard that they even throw the Lord's prayer on the junk heap because it too is "rote."
It rather seems to me that they are judging with an unrighteous judgement by inferring that all who repeat the Lord's prayer are hypocrites who are only repeating words they do not mean but only repeat out of custom or tradition. How kind of them to apply their own lack of conscientiousness to the rest of us. I for one mean every word of the Lord's Prayer each time I pray it.
Those who are against praying prayers by memory or preparation do so based on the Matthew 6 verses 7 and 8, "But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. ( (Matthew 6:7,8
They then classify the praying of the Lord's prayer or any carefully prepared or memorized prayer as being in the category of "vain repetition". Strangely enough they think that their spontaneous words are superior to the Holy words of the Savior recorded in Scripture.
If they bothered to read the very next verse they would find that Jesus was not condemning praying the Lord's prayer at all but instead was COMMANDING that we pray it His way.
After this manner therefore pray ye:
Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 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 6:9-13)
Those who are against praying the Lords prayer then reply,"Jesus said to pray after this manner... not pray these words" and then they go about trying to improve Christ's prayer with their own interpretations of what Jesus was attempting to say; which to me seems rather vain.
WHY WE SHOULD SAY GRACE BEFORE A MEAL
Hunger makes us remember to eat. The Christian practice has been to turn this physical drive of hunger into a spiritual blessing by connecting the satisfaction of food to remembering to pause and give glory to the provider of that food. Now we could say "Thank you Father for this food." But that seems rather void (and maybe vainly repetitive).
God has given us His Holy Word to love and cherish, to memorize and to hide in our hearts and the only way to memorize is by repetition. Plus as we make a habit out of praying a "Grace Scripture" back to God as a family we will be enabling our children to memorize without realizing they are doing it.
So I am looking into Scripture to find fitting scriptures to apply during my prayers of worship and thanksgiving, especially to pray when saying Grace. As I was preaching on this text last Lord's day it struck me that this blessing that is repeated over and over (repetitively) by the martyrs of the anti-Christ would be a great one to start repeating now. It has everything necessary for saying Grace although certainly it is good to add to our grace to thank God for specific things such as a visitor at the table or some other event that ought to have recognition.
"Blessing, and glory, and wisdom,
and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might,
be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen."
Revelation 7:12
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