“Hallowed Be Your Name”
January 23, 2015“Hallo
wed” is an unusual word and on the “Words with Friends” word usage scale, it finds itself far on the right side of the rare continuum. Most of us don’t find ourselves using this word at the water fountain conversations at work! However, in Matthew 6:9 the first line of the Lord’s Prayer is, “Our Father who are in Heaven, hallowed be your name.”
What does it mean to hallow? And whose is this name that we are to hallow? Very simply, to hallow means to set apart, make holy, and sanctify the name of God who is in Heaven. And it is very understandable as to why we should set apart God’s name. His name is above all names, above all that is commonplace, and above all that is ordinary. In several places in Scripture, God shows us His different names and as a result more about His character. God said in Isaiah 57:15, “I am the high and lofty one whose name is Holy.” And in Exodus 34:14, God declared on Mt. Sinai, “You shall worship no other god, for the LORD whose name is Jealous is a jealous God.” God is jealous any time our hearts are lured away to love and enjoy something more than we love and enjoy Him!
Jesus taught us to pray to Our Father who are in Heaven and He also taught us to hallow God’s name. The first three petitions of the Lord’s Prayer give the priority of Christ’s heart: that God be believed, obeyed and glorified. When we hallow God’s name we are worshiping Him as Holy and we are declaring, “Obeyed be your commandments”. If this was Christ’s top priority, it should be ours as well and not on a rare continuum of word usage but on a daily basis!