Deliver Us From Evil

The seventh and final petition of the Lord’s Prayer (and the original concluding words of the prayer) are “but deliver us from evil.”  This petition stands in parallel to the preceding petition, “lead us not into temptation.”  Each helps interpret the other.  We are to live lives of continual vigilance, recognizing the ongoing danger of […]

Lead us Not Into Temptation

“Why does Jesus teach us to pray, ‘lead us not into temptation’?  God wouldn’t lead us into temptation anyway would he?  Isn’t it Satan who tempts us?”  This conundrum was posed me in a recent Sunday school class. It’s a great question, especially given the biblical context of a text like James 1:13-15: 13 When […]

Lead us Not Into Temptation

No one plans on tramping through a poison ivy patch (at least not anyone (like me) who has a known poison ivy (hyper)sensitivity!).  No one purposes to swim in shark infested waters, or in a toxic waste dump site.  No one intentionally gets ambushed by banditti.  These dangers befall the unaware, the unsuspecting.  It isn’t […]