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Last Saturday, in The Perfect Prayer, Part 1, we saw that the opening lines to the Lord’s prayer help to remind us that God is our loving, all knowing, always present and all powerful … Daddy! And as such we are totally dependent upon Him!
Today we look at the next line of this perfect prayer: “…hallowed be your name.” (Matt. 6:9b NIV).
The first thing that strikes me when I read this line is the word, “hallowed”. It seems like a strange word; yet all of the major English translations begin this line with “hallowed”, with the exception of the NLT, which translates it as “…may Your name be kept holy.” (NLT).
According to the online Oxford Dictionary, “hallowed” means: “made holy; consecrated, greatly revered and honored.” Interestingly, the original Greek word that we translate as “hallowed” is Hagiasthētō. It only occurs three times in the Bible, the first two are in Matthew 6 and again in the parallel passage, Luke 11. Both of these passages are translated as “hallowed”. The final time is in the book of Revelation, chapter 11, where common English versions translate the Greek word as, “Keep himself holy” or “let him be holy still”.
Putting all of this together, this line of the Lord’s Prayer means, “Let Your name be holy, consecrated, greatly revered and honored still”!
Let’s remember that we’ve just opened the prayer by calling God our “daddy”. This is a very familiar term, and God wants it that way. He wants us to be on familiar terms with Him. But at the same time, we need to remember that God is way bigger than an earthly daddy. He is Holy! And as such, this second line of the Lord’s perfect prayer reminds us that while God is as familiar to us as a daddy, He is also … holy!
Interestingly, God admonishes us several times in the Bible to be holy because … He is holy! One of the first times this admonition is given is found in Leviticus: “For I am the Lord your God. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy, for I am holy.” (Leviticus 11:44 NASB).
Does that seem like a strange reason to anyone besides me? I am holy, so you need to be holy too! That’s kind of like telling your kids, “clean your hands because I have clean hands!”
Or is it?
If I were to say that to my kids, it would be because I’ve cleaned my hands. But this isn’t the case with God. He is the DEFINITION of holiness! In fact, a better way to think of this is that I say to my kids, “Be Chaffarts because your dad is a Chaffart”!
As God’s children, we are His representatives on Earth: “We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.” (2 Corinthians 5:20 NIV). As such, we have to ask ourselves, are we showing by our lives that He is … holy? That He is to be consecrated? Greatly revered and honored?
I don’t know about you, but I fall short on this quite often. Though I long to be a good representative of my loving Heavenly Daddy, my human nature tends to get in the way! Nonetheless, I am called to be holy, because He is holy...
And just how do I dishonour the holiness of God’s name?
The list is too long for this devotional; but basically it boils down to this: If it’s against God’s law, then it dishonors His name!
This line of the Lord’s perfect prayer, however, isn’t necessarily calling us to be holy. It is simply reminding us that He is holy. Nonetheless, as we meditate on how He is our loving daddy, we fall deeper and deeper in love with Him; and this creates in us the desire to honour the holiness of His name!
It is usually at this place in the prayer that God begins bringing to my mind things that I do that do not honor the holiness of His name. Often this is something He’s been working on my conscience for a while; and I find myself saying, “All powerful, all loving Daddy in Heaven, I long to honor the holiness of Your name. I know that my ___________ doesn’t not bring honor to Your holiness. Please help me with this so that as Your ambassador on Earth, each of my actions and each of my thoughts will bring the honor that Your holy name warrants!
As you make the Lord’s prayer your daily prayer this week, I urge you to especially meditate on this line: “…hallowed be your name.” (Matt. 6:9b NIV). Let God work on your heart. Open your spirit to His that He may reveal to you the things in your life that don’t bring the honour His holy name warrants, and together, resolve to uphold His holiness in each and every action and word and thought.
And please join us next Friday for the next thought provoking part of this perfect prayer: “Your Kingdom Come! The Perfect Prayer, Part 3”. Oh, and after two weeks of praying this perfect prayer and especially meditating on the first two lines, I know you are starting to see some changes in your lives and in your relationship with God. I would love to hear about these! I invite you to email me here!
In His love,
Lyn
Lynona Gordon Chaffart
Author, Moderator, Acting Director, Answers2Prayer Ministries
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