“This, then, is how you should pray: ” ‘Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name,’ ” (Matthew 6:9)
It’s no wonder so many people have memorized the “Lord’s Prayer.” What a huge opportunity! When the Son of God says, “This is how you should talk to my Father,” we should write it down on our brains and never forget it. Still, Jesus did not mean that we should only ever pray these words in this order. He gave his disciples a plan for approaching the God of eternity in conversation.
First, he said, remember who you’re talking to. Address your prayer to your Father, the one who lives in your future home in heaven. I know some people are more comfortable talking to Jesus in prayer because we have a better idea of who he is. We can relate to him more personally – and I don’t think it’s wrong to pray to him. But he’s the one who told us to talk to our Father, our “abba,” our daddy.
But the Father is not just any daddy. His name – his being, person, essence, identity – is “hallowed” or holy. As modern Christians, its sometimes hard for us to understand what “sacred” really means, but our Father is sacred to the core. Strong, powerful, and untouchable with anything impure or sinful. Our prayer begins with remembering we’re talking to our close and distant, approachable and unspeakably holy Father.
Think: How do you tend to picture God when you pray? Do you need to adjust your understanding of him?
Pray: Ask God to help you to remember to approach him as your loving “daddy” and as the absolutely holy God of all.
Do: Practice saying to God “your name is holy” when you pray this week.