Day 3: Honoring God as Father
As you begin to spend time with God, settle yourself somewhere quiet and comfortable. Take a few deep breaths. Spend a few moments gathering your thoughts, becoming aware of God’s presence with you and in you.
Journal for 5 minutes on yesterday’s experiment for “Our Father in Heaven”. What did you notice and learn? What challenged you? Did God say anything to you throughout the day?
Then, begin today’s devotional.
Read: Matthew 6:9, Ezekiel 36:20-23, Galatians 4:4-7
What are we asking for when we say to God these words: “hallowed be Thy name”? The opening statements of the Lord’s Prayer can be a bit confusing. We are on more familiar ground when we pray the so-called ‘We-petitions’ that come later in the prayer (‘give us our daily bread’, ‘forgive us our sins’, etc.) since here we are simply presenting our needs to God, recognizing our dependence on him. But what of the ‘Thou-petitions’ (regarding God’s name, kingship, and will) that open the prayer?
The passive imperative language of ‘hallowed be’ might suggest that we are asking God to do something for the sake of His own name, and yet it is important we recognize that as God’s people we also are included in the hallowing or sanctifying of His name. God’s ‘name’ (which essentially stands in for God’s ‘character’ or ‘reputation’) is holy and He will guard the holiness of His name. Yet we His people play a very important role in how His name is represented and understood on earth. Passages like Ezekiel 20:8-9 and 36:20-23 inform us that God’s people can profane the name of God in the eyes of other people. Because of our relationship with God, we have the ability to either increase or discredit God’s reputation.
We address God in the opening of the prayer as ‘Father’. That is the quality of His character the prayer encourages us to focus on. In this context, to sanctify God’s name means that we honor Him as Father. This means that we live each day in a manner that demonstrates and celebrates God as the source of our life, as the one who protects us, and as the one who takes a loving interest in us as His children. Yet, in the biblical context, the most important way the child honors the father is through obedience. For Ezekiel, the name of God was profaned before Israel’s neighbors because the people of God refused to obey the teaching and instruction He had given them.
Paul describes the redemption we have in Christ in terms of adoption. We are now able to cry out “Abba! Father!” because of the Spirit of Christ within us. For Paul, as for Matthew, the Spirit invites us to call God Father just as the Spirit also enables us to live in a manner that brings credit to God’s name. It is in this way we hallow His name — by living the lives He created us to live.
Prayer: Father, we thank you that you have honored us by making us your children. Help us to be mindful of the many benefits that gives us and help us also to consider the responsibility we bear as your children. We thank you for the family of your people and wish to honor you as our Father. Amen.
Today’s Experiment: We are all instinctively protective of the reputation of our parents. It is no accident that in almost every culture, the greatest insults take the form of aspersions on father or mother. Consider whether or not you are as protective of God’s name as you are of your family name or of your own reputation. What can you do today to enhance God’s name in the eyes of others through your words and actions?
By Dr. Blaine Charette, Professor of New Testament