Thank You, Father, for the safety provided as we took care of somethings away from home today. As I come into Your presence tonight may I clearly see what You have for me. Amen.
Luke 11:2 (<<click to read the passage)
Several years ago, I worked in a Christian bookstore. At one point I was the supervisor over the Church Supply area. We had pretty much anything a church would need in basic supplies – bulletins, candles, anointing oil, choir robes, offering plates, communion trays, along with a couple of types of communion bread. We carried the little square pillows and we also sold the round wafers.
One day a lady came in asking about the wafers, so I showed her where they were. I will never forget what she said to me next! Wafers in hand, she very matter-of-factly said, “You know, these are great with Cheez Wiz!” I about fell over!
I realize that those wafers are made with common ingredients, but still! They are a part of a holy sacrament of the Church – set aside to remember the body of Christ as He gave Himself in our place to secure our salvation!
As I read the first couple lines of this very familiar prayer, another thing that should be kept holy – that quite often isn’t – came to mind. A portion of verse 2 reads, “Father, hallowed be Your name.”
Before you say, “That’s not right!” let me say that Luke’s version of Jesus’ exemplary prayer varies just a bit from that recorded in Matthew. It is Matthew’s version that most of us can recite by heart.
The point that needs to be made has to do with that phrase, “Father, hallowed be Your name.”
It used to be that most people were careful not to used God’s name in vain. And in case you have forgotten, it is one of the Ten Commandments found in Exodus 20:7,
“You must not misuse the name of the Lord your God. The Lord will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name.” (NLT)
From an early age, I learned to not even speak something that sounded like God’s name! Even typing these words makes me uncomfortable, but they have become so commonplace in our world. Every day we hear words like, jeez, gosh, golly, Jiminy Christmas, and one of today’s popular ones is OMG! I can’t bring myself to use them – in my mind, they are just wrong!
And those examples are the mild ones! I cannot even begin to count the number of times that someone around me has literally spit out the name“Jesus Christ” and it had nothing to do with my Lord and Savior…it was used solely as a curse! God’s name is used in conjunction with other curse words for the same effect – I don’t think we need to be reminded that God’s last name is not damn! It is profane!
So, what does hallowed mean? It means to set apart. It means to keep and treat as holy and revere. What we need to do is to check ourselves. The mindset that it is OK to say things like these because – let’s say it together, “Well, everybody does it!”
Our God is holy. Yes, He loves us. Yes, His sacrifice to bring us back into right relation with Him is beyond our comprehension. It is of utmost importance, at least in our hearts and minds, that we set God apart from the mundane perverseness of our culture. May we treat Him and the Name we call Him, may we set them apart with paramount holiness and reverence. Amen!
June 5th, 2020, Thurs, 9:12 pm
