God's Name and Our Lives


The Second Commandment
You shall not misuse the name of the Lord of the Lord your God. 
What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not curse, swear, use satanic arts, lie, or deceive by His name, but call upon it in every trouble, pray, praise, and give thanks.

The First Petition of the Lord's Prayer
Hallowed be Thy Name. 
What does this mean?  God’s name is certainly holy in itself, but we pray in this petition that it may be kept holy among us also.
How is God’s name kept holy?  God’s name is kept holy when the Word of God is taught in its truth and purity, and we, as the children of God, also lead holy lives according to it.  Help us to do this, dear Father in heaven!  But anyone who teaches or lives contrary to God’s Word profanes the name of God among us.  Protect us from this, heavenly Father!

The Second Commandment and the First Petition of the Lord’s Prayer go hand in hand.  Both, ultimately, are about using God’s name properly.   When we use God’s name properly, when we live according to it and seek to bring honor to God by our living, it is hallowed (honored, kept holy) amongst us.

What would it look like if you were truly most concerned, not with you own happiness, not with your own priorities, not with your own gratification, but with ensuring that God’s name is hallowed by how you live?
If we were truly concerned with hallowing God’s name, would we…
…change our television and movie viewing habits and re-evaluate the types of things that we watch and let our children watch?
…make changes to our Saturday evening routines in order to prepare our hearts and minds for the Divine Service on Sunday?
…be more concerned with how we can use our physical and monetary blessings to honor God?
…make changes to our devotional lives?
…see to it that we keep God’s name holy in our homes by having family devotions?
...teach our children to hallow God's name by making a Christian education more important than sports, band, farming, etc.?
…pray more often?
…pray more often for spiritual things than physical things?
…pray for our pastor and school teachers as they serve God?

These are just a few of the questions that you might ask yourself.  I encourage you, during the final weeks of lent, to consider how different your life would look if you organized your life around God and hallowing His name.  Take some time to consider what changes need to be made in your life and in the life of your family so that God’s name is hallowed.

God’s Blessings,
Pastor Meyer

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Jesus's Whip

Image
After reading about Jesus making a whip and then driving out the moneychangers, I wondered what ever happened to the whip. So I wrote a story of what could have happened to that whip. The Jewish Passover was near, so Jesus went to Jerusalem. He found those who were selling cattle, sheep, and pigeons in the temple courtyard. He also found moneychangers sitting there. He made a whip from small ropes and threw everyone with their sheep and cattle out of the temple courtyard. He dumped the moneychangers' coins and knocked over their tables. He told those who sold pigeons, "Pick up this stuff, and get it out of here! Stop making my Father's house a marketplace!" His disciples remembered that Scripture said, "Devotion for your house will consume me."   (John 2:13-17) What do I do with this this? The man looked at the whip and wondered what to do with it.  He had just witnessed Jesus use the whip, which Jesus had fashioned with His own hands by ta...
Read more

What are the Benefits of Receiving the Lord's Supper?

Image
In my Bible Class we've been going through 1 Corinthians, but recently we've stalled for several weeks in chapter 11, because it has given us a great opportunity to take a closer look at the Lord's Supper. As we've been going through what the Bible teaches us about the Lord's Supper, a lot of questions have come up, so I wanted to try to address many of those questions in a series of posts. What are the benefits of receiving the Lord's Supper?  Forgiveness of Sins The chief benefit of receiving the Lord's Supper is receiving the forgiveness of sins, as Jesus said "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins" (Matthew 26:28). But didn't we already receive forgiveness in baptism?  And in the service itself, don't we receive forgiveness through the absolution?  So, why do we need to receive forgiveness again? The very life of a Christian is one of repentance.  One reason God has given these ...
Read more

20 Ideas for Holy Week

Image
Oftentimes Christians feel like they should do something during Holy Week (besides attending services on Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Easter Sunday).  So here are some ideas that you might consider using during Holy Week.  Consider picking one or two things and then make sure you put plans in place to make it happen. Read a gospel (Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John) from start to finish, either by yourself or with your family. Pick a hymn and learn it by heart (listening to it on an mp3 player, spotify, YouTube, etc., can be help you do this). Memorize Scripture. Here are some good verses, that you might not yet know, but are very much worth memorizing.      Colossians 2:13-14        Romans 6:3-5      Revelation 1:17-18     John 20:21-23 Review the catechism , using each day of Holy Week to review one of the 6 chief parts. Pray for your pastor and all pastors as they prepare to proclaim the gosp...
Read more