…hallowed be your name.
To hallow the name of God, or to keep it holy, involves more than what we may understand. In the days of Jesus, a name was not just an identifier, but it spoke into the activity of the person. For example, Jesus was named Jesus because He would save His people from their sins (Matthew 1:21).* When Israel changed his son’s name from Ben-Oni (son of my pain) to Benjamin (son of my right hand), he wasn’t just changing his name, he was changing his destiny (Genesis 35:18).
As a young little man, my mom fought to make people call me “Benjamin” rather than “Ben.” More times than not, her battle embarrassed me. I wanted to go with the flow.
It took years for me to decide to take up that fight myself. I think I eventually picked it up because I realized that to take the fullness of the name apart was to truncate its meaning. This may not mean as much to other people, and it doesn’t need to. But, for me, I wanted my name to relate to the activity of a position of favor in relation to God.
The name of God isn’t just an identifier; His name relates to His activity. Because His activity is like none other (or holy), so is His name.
When we call God by His name, we are recognizing His activity in our lives and in our world in the past, present, and future. There is nothing like it and nothing like Him.
The prayer “hallowed be your name” is a plea toward the future that God would one day be recognized by all as holy. This plea of God to be recognized for who He is should begin in the life of the believer today.*
Today, take a step.
Maybe today the one step God wants you to take is to recognize that there is none like Him. Perhaps you need to repent for using His name lightly, or in vain as a simple expression. Maybe God wants you to live as if there is none like Him and allow Him to operate in your life in unexpected ways.
Whatever the step, ask God to direct it. Take a moment to take that step. Invite Him to speak. He will.
Life is a long road. Walk it with Jesus. Take a step today… just one is fine.
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*Leon, Morris, The Gospel According to Matthew. Pillar New Testament Commentary (Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1992), 144-145, and Keener, C. S., Matthew (Vol. 1, Mt 6:9-13) (InterVarsity Press, 1997).