Day 7 : The prayer commits us

"May your name be sanctified" (Matthew 6: 9).

When we pray and take the time to put God first, when we give him first place in our prayers, it only makes sense if he has the first place in our whole life. In short, is it really the Name of God that is sanctified in our lives and lives ? Is there not an idol who takes the first place in our personal piety ?

The Bible tells us about various divinities that can take the first place. Let us quote the love of money or the god Mammon : "You can not serve God and Mammon" (Matthew 6:24). There is also the "belly god" which characterizes the search for pleasure and material well-being : "They have for their gods their belly, they put their glory in what makes their shame, they think only of the things of the Earth "(Philippians 3:19). The Scripture also mentions the god of this age (2 Corinthians 4: 4), to which it is necessary not to conform: (Romans 12: 2).

When we pray and say : "Hallowed be thy name," it implies that our sanctified life causes the world to sanctify the name of God. It is his glory that his name is sanctified in us and through us. It depends on our life that its name be sanctified among the nations, and that is why we ask that this name of God be sanctified in us and by our life. If we live according to the Spirit, the divine name will be blessed; But if we live according to the flesh, he will be blasphemed. This is what Paul reminds of the Jews who transgress the moral principles of the law : "The name of God is blasphemed because of you among the nations" (Romans 2:24).

When we say, "Hallowed be thy name," we are personally engaged. In order that the name of God may be sanctified, it is proper to live ourselves the sanctification which is offered us in Jesus and by Jesus. Through Jesus, God "calls us to sanctification" (1 Thessalonians 4: 7). "It is through him that you are in Jesus Christ, who by God has been made for us wisdom, justice, sanctification and redemption" (1 Corinthians 1:30).

In the old covenant, so that the priests may sanctify anything, they had to sanctify themselves first. In the same way that we may sanctify the name of God, we ought to be sanctified, set apart by the grace which is in Christ.

My prayer on this day :

May my life, my deeds, my words, my attitudes, my thoughts sanctify your name, Lord, in this day and every day. Amen !

Paul Calzada