Your name be honored as holy (Matthew 6:9)

“Your name be honored as holy” (Matthew 6:9 HCSB)

No one’s name gets misused, abused, and disrespected more than God the Father’s and his son, Jesus Christ. But Jesus teaches us in the Lord’s Prayer to pray for God’s name to be honored as holy. Traditionally it reads, “Hallowed be thy name,” but so few people use the term “hallowed” in modern English that most don’t know that it means “be honored as holy.” Of course “holy” means “different, set apart, and separate from sin.” Therefore when we pray this portion of the Lord’s Prayer we are asking for God to be respected, glorified, and obeyed because he is different from all other beings and thus worthy of the highest respect and honor we can give him. When we say someone has a good name we mean that person has a character worthy of praise. No one’s character deserves praise more than God’s.

When we pray for God’s name to be honored as holy we are asking that God will give people the ability to acknowledge his greatness. We are asking that he enable them not only to accept that he exists, but also that they live in awe of him, continually accepting the truth about him, carrying out their activities in a continual awareness of his presence, and with an earnest desire to obey him. How drastically different we would speak and act if we truly honored God’s name as holy. “Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, But to Your name give glory, Because of Your mercy, Because of your truth” (Psalm 115:1 NKJV).

A prayer for God’s name to be honored as holy might go something like this: “Dear God, thank you for being pure and free from all sin. Forgive us for the times we speak and think of you in ways that aren’t worthy of your holy nature. Keep us from using your name in ways that aren’t respectful of you. Help us to live today in awe of you. And help us to show you the utmost respect in all that we do today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.”