Dear Tom & Michelle & Tommy J.,
Matthew 6:9-13
9After this manner ought you to pray:
Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
10Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.
11Give us this day our daily bread.
12And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
13And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.
It has been a while since we have considered this. Please forgive me for my tardiness. My problem is one where I have to many interests for my own good and as such my mind (and writing) seems to wander.
Today we take notice the character of the Father that Jesus emphasizes. When Jesus teaches us to pray he teaches us that our desire should be that God would keep His name holy. By placing this desire up front that God would keep His name Hallowed Jesus reminds us that our first and foremost concern would be for the glory and excellence of God to be seen in all the earth. It is well that Jesus should couple the reality of God’s intimate relationship to us as a “Father” while putting in our mouths the Holiness of God. It is true that God is a Father to us, but our intimacy with Him shouldn’t make us forgetful of how exalted God is.
When a Christian prays his first and foremost concern is not for his needs or concerns but rather it first and foremost concern is that God’s name would be seen as hallowed as it never ceases to be. If our passion is that God’s name would not be profaned but hallowed we will escape the destructiveness that always accompanies men who prioritize themselves and their name over Gods. As a Christian Tommy J., our desire is that low views of God would be extinguished from the earth.
We live during a time Tommy J. where very few men have a passion to prioritize God in all their doing and living, including their praying. Jesus teaches us in the Lord’s prayer that before we ask anything for ourselves we are to be mindful that our main passion is for the splendor of God to be seen for what it never ceases to be.
Let us pray
Father, we confess that we are quick to be concerned with the reputation of our names but slow to be concerned about the hallowing of your name. We ask your forgiveness for this sin. Grant us grace to see and understand your glory that we may become a people passionately concerned for its demonstration to the nations that men may come to know the delight and joy of knowing thy Messiah, Jesus.
