Some sermon I heard long ago mentioned using your own name in place of love in 1 Cor 13:4-7. I liked that, but am not sure I ever did it. I eventually put it down as something to try in a blog and over time it fell to the bottom of the list, as I added new stuff at the top. I saw it there over and over, but never felt moved to do it.
As I have mentioned before, I say the Lord’s prayer every day before I get out of bed (or at least I try to). It is of course modeled after Matthew 6:9-13, but has taken on some revision over the years for whatever version it started from and this is what I say: (I pray each phrase separately as broken out below.)
Our Father,
who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth,
as it is in heaven.
Give us this day
our daily bread.
And forgive us our trespasses,
As we forgive those that trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
The power,
and the glory,
Now and forever.
Amen.
More recently, I got the idea that maybe I should modify this prayer to be specific to me. I knew I could not make the substitution without writing it down, so I gave myself the task of writing it down. This task was on the to do list for a little bit before I got it done, but I finally got there this week. I think I had to repeat the beginning of the prayer every time to get each phrase written down, but finally I had it.
Father God,
who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name,
thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth,
as it is in heaven.
Give me this day
my daily bread.
And forgive me my trespasses,
As I forgive those that trespass against me.
And lead me not into temptation
but deliver me from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
The power,
and the glory,
Now and forever.
Amen.
I used Father God instead of my father to make it plain who it was not. But otherwise, it became very, very personal. I also found that I really did not like it, as in I never plan to say it again di not like it. When the disciples asked Jesus how to pray, He used the inclusive terms and as I went through this exercise, I originally wondered why He did so.
As I have tried to make plain before, our relationship with Christ is a personal relationship and no one can save anyone else no matter how much they want to. Each individual must recognize God, recognize sin, recognize the need to be saved, repent, and ask Jesus to save them. There is no “we” in “I am saved”.
Praying this individualized prayer made me feel selfish and outside the will of God. I was trying to make my prayer a little more personal, but what I came out with made me more isolated. We are not left here as saved Christians to benefit ourselves. We are left here to serve God and serve others. We are to identify with the lost around us, to want to share salvation with them, and to pray for and love them as we pray for and love ourselves.
So this exercise reinforced my desire to start each day with the Lord’s prayer and the focus on my mission here that He has provided.
I also decided this was a good time to do the “same” for 1 Cor 13:4-7 which goes like this:
Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
Putting my name in for Love it comes out like this.
Jeff is patient,
Jeff is kind.
Jeff does not envy,
Jeff does not boast,
Jeff is not proud.
Jeff does not dishonor others,
Jeff is not self-seeking,
Jeff is not easily angered,
Jeff keeps no record of wrongs.
Jeff does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth.
Jeff always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
That is a much better personalization and gives me a target to shoot for. I am not always these things, but they should be my goal. Maybe even a list. (More on that in a few weeks or so.)
My memory is not as good as it was, but I once read a short science fiction story that had some phrase like “a wrinkle in time”. I never read the book by that name, or saw the movie, but the short story idea stuck in my head that way. The concept was that as a time traveler went about watching time, this wrinkle was something that impacted outcomes, but really made no logical sense.
To me, this inclusiveness of the Lord’s prayer being integral to how I felt about it was one of these wrinkles I could not figure out. I think I have ironed it out. I feel more commited to the Lord’s prayer and I see the goals for me in 1 Cor 13.