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Approaching God With Reverence, January 3
He said to them, “When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be
Your name. Your kingdom come.”
Luke 11:2
, NKJV.
To hallow the name of the Lord requires that the words in which we speak of
the Supreme Being be uttered with reverence. “Holy and reverend is his name”
(
Psalm 111:9
). We are never in any manner to treat lightly the titles or appellations
of the Deity. In prayer we enter the audience chamber of the Most High; and we
should come before Him with holy awe. The angels veil their faces in His presence.
The cherubim and the bright and holy seraphim approach His throne with solemn
reverence. How much more should we, finite, sinful beings, come in a reverent
manner before the Lord, our Maker!
But to hallow the name of the Lord means much more than this. We may,
like the Jews in Christ’s day, manifest the greatest outward reverence for God,
and yet profane His name continually. “The name of the Lord” is “merciful and
gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth ... forgiving iniquity
and transgression and sin” (
Exodus 34:5-7
). Of the church of Christ it is written,
“This is the name wherewith she shall be called, The Lord our Righteousness”
(
Jeremiah 33:16
). This name is put upon every follower of Christ. It is the heritage
of the child of God. The family are called after the Father. The prophet Jeremiah,
in the time of Israel’s sore distress and tribulation, prayed, “We are called by thy
name; leave us not” (
Jeremiah 14:9
).
This name is hallowed by the angels of heaven, by the inhabitants of unfallen
worlds. When you pray, “Hallowed be thy name,” you ask that it may be hallowed
in this world, hallowed in you. God has acknowledged you before men and angels
as His child; pray that you may do no dishonor to the “worthy name by the which
ye are called” (
James 2:7
). God sends you into the world as His representative.
In every act of life you are to make manifest the name of God. This petition calls
upon you to possess His character. You cannot hallow His name, you cannot
represent Him to the world, unless in life and character you represent the very life
and character of God. This you can do only through the acceptance of the grace
and righteousness of Christ.—
Thoughts from the Mount of Blessing, 106, 107
.
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