Hallowed Be Thy Name
1. “Name” – A name represents what something is. What is color? What is sound? Beauty? Love? Justice? Happiness? Your personal name evokes many things, many years, many accomplishments, many flaws, many hopes. If a picture is worth a thousand words, then so should a name be.
a) God’s mentions His name first in Exodus: Yahweh, or “I Am” – which speaks of pure existence. He is the first cause, which makes Him the creator-author of all things. Since we can hardly wrap our brain around the “I AM” of existence, we may begin to grasp His nature by what He exhibits to us in our own existence.
b) That leads us to the second most defining characteristic, or manifestation, of God: Love. Not only do the Gospels state that God is love, but then, logically, our source of Love is God (1 Jn 4:7). We talking about the highest love, Agape. We get it from Him. That all of existence is based in love is kind of mind-boggling. But then think about everything that is important to humans: What about Justice? It’s the opposite of survival of the fittest; it is about fairness, which comes from love. What about happiness? Comes from love. Forgiveness? Comes from love. All four human loves derive their best sense from Agape love. It makes sense, then, that everything we cherish most comes from our Father, our Creator. The Name of God is everything humans hold of value.
2. “Hallowed” – holy/sacred. In our case, to make hallowed. We can only hallow God’s name (that is, hallow who God is) by giving Him a priority in our lives. When you stand up for something or someone because it’s the right thing to do regardless of the consequences, you are hallowing God’s name. When we strive for all the characteristics and manifestations of love, we hallow (glorify) His name.
Next up: Thy Kingdom Come
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