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 DEVOTION//Come, Lord Jesus

 DEVOTION//Come, Lord Jesus

“When you pray, do not babble like the heathen…. [Rather] pray like this: ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name…” (Matthew 6:7,9, EHV).

My wife and I went to a restaurant for lunch with our 4-year-old granddaughter. After we had settled in at the table, she pointed to the empty chair and said, “Look, there’s a place for Jesus!”

I smiled broadly. My heart warmed with gratitude that the Spirit had given her such insight. 

“You are 100% correct,” I told her. “In fact, let’s invite Jesus to join us at our meal. We do that every time we say, ‘Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest.’ So, let’s pray that together.”

An empty chair

How interesting, I thought, that Vera would connect that empty chair to a place for her Savior.  

When my wife and I pray before meals, I focus my attention on the empty chair across the table from me. I imagine Jesus seated there as our guest. With the words of our common table prayer, I invite my brother and friend to enjoy the meal with us and to bring his blessing to it.  Then I thank him for his goodness and his never-ending mercy.

An empty heart

A quick calculation says I’ve prayed those words well over 40,000 times in my life. I’m ashamed to admit it, but many times those familiar words touched my lips but never lingered in my mind or reached my heart. 

Perhaps, already at four-years-old, my granddaughter has learned what it took me four decades and more to appreciate: we address our meal prayers to a real person. Jesus is the unseen guest at our meals. Jesus is the generous giver of those meals. Jesus is the welcoming host at the eternal meal he has prepared for us in heaven.

A full prayer

Probably, few other Christians need an empty chair to focus their meal-prayer attention. But I do. I “see” Jesus there at the start of each meal. His chair reminds me that I am speaking to a real person. His chair urges me to celebrate the food he has provided. His chair focuses my attention on the grace his cross and tomb have guaranteed.

“Come, Lord Jesus, be our guest and let these gifts to us to blessed. Oh, give thanks to the LORD for he is good. His love endures forever. Amen.”