1.7 KiB
Context
Scripture Reading: 2 Corinthians 5:16-21
Sermon Text: Luke 5:12-28
Prayer
Father,
We, mankind, have sinned against You. Through our sin, we have brought sickness, suffering, and death into the world. Not trusting You, we brought the misery of failing bodies and fading lives. In accord with our sinful nature, our bodies and desires would continually degrade without Your intervention.
We have failed in seeking closeness with You. We neglect Your Word and we do not seek You in prayer as we should. We do not seek our rest in You. We often see pursuing closeness with You as a chore, as work rather than rest. We instead seek rest in our many hobbies and interest, in things good and in bad, we rest in Your good gifts and also in fruits You have not given us to eat of. We can even regard work as more restful than You, who should be our rest.
We at times only seek You when we have problems. Even when we do have problems, we still often do not look to You to be our help. We come to You only as a last resort, or at other times we seek You only so we can cover over our laziness.
We have not regarded with honor, the calling that You give to every Christian to steward the message of reconciliation. We regularly fail in joining You in carrying into the world the reconciliation that You brought forth Christ. If the first disciples who's ministry of reconciliation we are to continue had our zeal, we might never have heard of Christ. We live for ourselves, rather than Your Son.
Now on the grounds that Christ became sin for us, that He died for us that we might live for Him, we come to You seeking that reconciliation. Please, receive us back, and help us to truly live Him who died for us.
It is in His name that we ask this. Amen.