Hallowed Be Thy Name: The Lord's Prayer III

The first petition in the Lord's prayer is that the name of the heavenly Father "be hallowed." What does it mean to be hallowed or to hallow something? Merriam-Webster says, "To make holy." The word "hallowed" is rarely used today. The first time I recall hearing the word was in a recitation of Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address. In that famous speech, he spoke of dedicating a battlefield to be "a final resting place for those who here gave their lives that the nation might live." While he said it was"right and fitting" that this be done, he also recognized that in a sense no one could dedicate that piece of land anymore than it had already been dedicated -- or hallowed -- by those who had watered it with their own blood.

In a larger sense, we can not dedicate -- we can not consecrate -- we can not hallow -- this ground. The brave men, living and dead, who struggled here, have consecrated it, far above our poor power to add or detract."

Similarly, when we pray the prayer, "Hallowed be Thy name," we recognize that in a sense there is no way that we can hallow God's name anymore than it has already been hallowed. By shedding His blood on the Cross for sinners such as you and me, Jesus Christ hallowed the name of the heavenly Father to the highest degree possible, infinitely and forever. Any good deed that we might perform, any prayer that we might pray, any sacrifice that we might make, is but a feeble Amen to the Jesus' mighty cry of victory from the Cross:

"It is finished!"

Nevertheless, the fact is that Jesus taught that we should pray this prayer. Perhaps the only way we can pray this prayer "in spirit and in truth" is not only to say the words, but to live them. The only way this prayer can be fulfilled is that those who have dedicated themselves to be followers of Jesus Christ live in such a way as to glorify the name of the heavenly Father, every word that we say, every act that we perform, every thought that we think, all to the honor and glory of the heavenly Father.

Heavenly Father, hallowed be Thy name. May "the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O Lord, my strength, and my redeemer."

-- Psalm 19:14