In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name.
Matthew 6:9

The last phrase of verse 9, “Hallowed be Your name,” has been understood on two ways. Yesterday I shared the first one about the importance of beginning prayer with worship of our holy God.

The second understanding of this phrase correctly recognizes the phrase, “Hallowed be Your name,” as the first petition of the prayer. The request is that the Lord’s name would be more widely acknowledged as being holy. The sad fact is, the Lord’s most holy name may be more commonly used in vain than it is reverenced. This common breaking of the third commandment has two sides to it—both equally blasphemous. The most obvious is using the Lord’s name as a swear word. I trust we all know how seriously sinful this is. If this is a part of your vocabulary, please, confess it as sin and ask the Lord for the gift of repentance!

The other way the Lord’s name is commonly taken in vain verbally is by using His name casually without reverence. Casually uttering the words, “Oh my God!” (or other derivatives) is blasphemous. Again, please, purge all such phrases from your vocabulary!

Another way in which the Lord’s name is taken in vain non-verbally is by claiming to be His child while living as one who is not His child. Our lives often fail to hallow the name of the Lord we profess to be our Lord!

One last example. False preachers who misrepresent the the Lord, and those who follow such teachers. There are too many ways this happens to list them all, but here are a few examples:

teaching that Jesus is a ticket to physical or monetary prosperity;
presenting Him as a buddy instead of as the Lord God Almighty;
claiming that God forgives everybody of everything;
being more casual than reverent regarding God.

Jesus taught us to pray that His name would be hallowed. Let us hallow His name and pray that others would do likewise.