Hallowed be His name

Today's post comes to us from Pastor Benjamin Meyer

The Second Commandment

You shall not misuse the name of the Lord of the Lord your God. 

What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not curse, swear, use satanic arts, lie, or deceive by His name, but call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks.

The First Petition of the Lord's Prayer

Hallowed be Thy Name. 

What does this mean?  God’s name is certainly holy in itself, but we pray in this petition that it may be kept holy among us also.

How is God’s name kept holy?  God’s name is kept holy when the Word of God is taught in its truth and purity, and we, as the children of God, also lead holy lives according to it.  Help us to do this, dear Father in heaven!  But anyone who teaches or lives contrary to God’s Word profanes the name of God among us.  Protect us from this, heavenly Father!

The Second Commandment and the First Petition of the Lord’s Prayer go hand in hand.  Both, ultimately, are about using God’s name properly.   When we use God’s name properly, when we live according to it and seek to bring honor to God by our living, it is hallowed (honored, kept holy) amongst us.

What would it look like if you were truly most concerned, not with your own happiness, not with your own priorities, not with your own gratification, but with ensuring that God’s name is hallowed by how you live?

If we were truly concerned with hallowing God’s name, would we…

…change our television and movie viewing habits and re-evaluate the types of things that we watch and let our children watch?

…make changes to our Saturday evening routines in order to prepare our hearts and minds for the Divine Service on Sunday?

…be more concerned with how we can use our physical and monetary blessings to honor God?

…make changes to our devotional lives?

…see to it that we keep God’s name holy in our homes by having family devotions?

...teach our children to hallow God's name by making a Christian education more important than sports, band, farming, etc.?

…pray more often?

…pray more often for spiritual things than physical things?

…pray for our pastor and school teachers as they serve God?

These are just a few of the questions that you might ask yourself.  I encourage you, during the final weeks of lent, to consider how different your life would look if you organized your life around God and hallowing His name.  Take some time to consider what changes need to be made in your life and in the life of your family so that God’s name is hallowed.