…hallowed be your name…(Matthew 6:9)

Hallowed

You know, like holy.

The Jews were so intense when it came to the holiness of God that they wouldn’t even utter the name YAHWEH. They considered it blasphemy.  I remember as a kid being told not to “take the Lord’s name in vain.” I didn’t really get what “in vain” meant, but I figured that God’s name was special and only to be used in prayer.

These days, we seem to be past all that.  Our society uses God’s name all the time–and not always in prayer.

Not often in prayer.

Beloved, perhaps today is a good day to remind ourselves that God is not like us.  I mean, we are made in his image, and Jesus became flesh and lived among us, but ultimately…he is different.

His is separate.

He is holy.

There is a purity and a majesty and a power in God that caused everyone who ever came into his presence to fall on their faces. Isaiah cried out, “Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips!” God appears to people as an angel, or as fire, or as tempest, because God in his true glory would crisp them.

So, while God is our loving Father

He is also

Almighty God.

Walk in reverence today.

Happy Tuesday, Beloved.