Matt 6:9-13
Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
11 Give us this day our daily bread.
12 And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
13 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. -KJV
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-“Hallowed be thy name”
The “Hallowed” part is something I glossed over quickly for years without understanding that it was really a declaration of worship. I knew it meant that God was ‘holy’ but never gave it much thought. I was always in a hurry to get to the “give us” part.
Greek Text:
Ἁγιασθήτω τὸ ὄνομά σου· (Hagiasthētō to onoma sou)
Hallowed be the name of You or
“Let it be hallowed- the- name- of thee”
It really is a statement of praise and worship of God. What it literally means is- ‘God let your name be known and consecrated and set apart as holy or sacred.’
The Point is—we really do need to take the time daily to worship God—he is God and we are not.
There is a balance to the prayer here—on one hand we are declared to be part of God’s family but he is still the Creator God –the one that needs to receive our praise and worship daily.
In our culture today nothing is considered sacred or holy anymore and the name of God is commonly used in the marketplace and in many homes as an expression of surprise or worse yet in the form of a curse.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, there are some Muslim countries today where if the name of ‘Allah’ is defamed in any way, heads will literally roll.
To put it all in perspective, Jesus taught us that the greatest commandment of all was to Love God. Obviously if we truly love God we will treat his name with respect: But this commandment is all encompassing.
–Matt 22:37-38:
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment”-ESV
Wow! This means that we should be loving and honoring God with every part of us—our Bodies, our Soul -Mind and emotions, and with our Spirits. Therefore, we actually need to think about God and His name needs to be set apart and consecrated or ‘hallowed’ in our daily living and thinking—if we truly love him.
For most of my life I have honored and worshipped God on Sundays and have prayed to him every day at least when I remember to, and studied his Word on most. I have also made a point of honoring his name and have not used it in ‘vain’. But have I really honored him daily by including him in my daily life? Not always. Once I was at work the morning devotions were mostly forgotten and most of the time I really didn’t include God that much in the rest of my day.
Obviously a change is way over due.
I Thessalonians 5:17 tells us that we should be talking to him all day long, that is what prayer really is:
17 ”Pray without ceasing,” -ESV
If we are truly to love him with all that we are, then we should be thinking about God, talking to him, actually making him apart of everything we do daily.
I believe that we are entering a time when ‘business as usual’ is no longer going to be an option for those who bear the name of Christ. In the dominant Western culture, God has been removed from the schools and the marketplaces, and some of our courts are trying to remove him from the public square entirely. It is even a struggle just to keep him in our busy home life.
Nevertheless, I believe that we are called to honor God daily. In fact, we literally need too for our own good. If God our Father is in our daily life, then it becomes easier to receive his blessings, reject the temptations of the enemy, and receive the happy abundant life that God intends for us to have. Sure, we are still going to have ‘bad’ days, get sick, and experience a tragedy or two, but for once we are not going to be alone.
Therefore, we actually need to think about God and His name needs to be set apart and consecrated or ‘hallowed’ in our daily living—if we truly love him.
But how and where?
Where? In our homes, at our jobs and work, on the freeways driving, and at the malls and shopping centers. Everywhere that life carries us we need to honor God and serve him in all that we do.
How? Jesus is really our example and he teaches us how to Love, worship, and honor God every day. We need to learn how to live a ‘red letter’ life and allow the very words of the Son of God to enliven us and inspire us to include His Father –Our Father–in our daily Lives. Like Jesus included him and constantly referred and deferred to his Father in his life:
-John 5:19-20:
19 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of his own accord, but only what he sees the Father doing. For whatever the Father[e] does, that the Son does likewise. 20 For the Father loves the Son and shows him all that he himself is doing.” –ESV
Jesus kept in communication with Father God continuously and did what the Father was doing and said also what Father God told him to say.
We need to learn to do the same–to include His Father –Our Father also–in our daily journey, in everything that we do. We need to listen,and respond to his Holy Spirit Like Jesus did. That would be the best way to ‘hallow’ him, to really honor and worship Father God.
Next in this series: Lesson 4 will focus on the Kingdom of God: “Thy Kingdom Come”