ON THE VANGUARD

HALLOWED BE YOUR NAME
"This, then, is how you should pray: 'Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,...'"
Matthew 6:9

I would like to spend the next few days dissecting a very well known passage found in Matthew 6. As I was driving to work yesterday morning, with a worship CD playing through the stereo, I found myself entering into a time of praise. I found myself worshipping God Almighty for who He was, is, and will be in the different stages of my life. I found myself hallowing His name. And then, I found myself praying what is titled as the Lord’s Prayer. So it is this prayer that I want us to look at, perhaps a little deeper than we have ever looked at it before. I want us to consider each word within this prayer, starting from the beginning with what exactly it means to hallow our God.
It is often said in counseling circles that we will tend to think of God in the way that we think of our earthly fathers. Although I have had to fight my own mis-conceptions of who God is, I have never really equated Him in the same way as I know my earthly dad. Whereas I respected my earthly dad because of his title, I for a long time only respected God in fear of His discipline. I was convinced that God was waiting for me to mess up, standing watch with a 2x4 ready to knock me upside the head. It wasn't until college that my idea of God as my Father really began to change and I caught the understanding of God as a good God.
When the disciples asked Jesus to teach them how to pray, Jesus didn't start off with, "Your Honor," or "O Magnificent One." Sure these titles can fit, but Jesus taught them to address God as Father. Of the four Gospels, Matthew is the only one written in Hebrew. Why? Why not Greek as the other three? It is because Matthew wanted the intended people, God's chosen people, to see that He had fulfilled the prophecies. Because Matthew did so, we can see here that this was no mis-translation. The same word in the Hebrew that God addresses himself to David as in II Samuel 7:14-15, is the same word that Jesus instructs us to call God when we pray. ABBA. And guess what. It is also the first Hebrew word when listed alphabetically in the Strong's Concordance.
But still the question remains of what it means to ‘hallow’ someone. Perhaps a better understanding of this word comes from the Complete Jewish Bible’s translation. “You, therefore, pray like this: ‘Our Father in heaven! May your Name be kept holy’” To define this a little more still, Webster’s dictionary defines this word as making something or someone holy or set apart for holy use; to respect greatly. It is the name of our Father, our ABBA, in heaven which we are to keep holy. But haven’t we heard this before? Exodus 20:7 commands us in the same way when it states, “You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.”
The whole beginning of the prayer that Jesus is sharing with the disciples starts with the honor given to God. He is worthy of our praise. He deserves our praise. And He delights in our praise. Too many times I have heard this prayer chanted in church as a death march, monotone and lifeless. But in understanding God as our ABBA, and understanding the fullness of praise He deserves, how can we continue to prayer these words so lackluster? He is God! Let us then praise His name, hallow and revere His name, and worship Him with all our heart, for He is a good God!