Hallowed Be Thy Name

I was getting my shoes shined in a barber shop. The person doing the shinning loved to talk and seemed to want everyone in the room to hear his words of wisdom and philosophy. The only problem was he could not say a sentence without a GD or so. It was GD this and GD that until it was grating on our ears. His shine chair was in the front window of the shop and the Baptist preacher walked by outside and waved at those of us in the shop. My very verbal shine master began telling us how stupid that preacher was about the Bible and how right his church was. I quietly asked him about his involvement in church and he informed me that he was a very committed Christian and church member. I hope I was just curious when I asked him how he could combine his faith with his constant use of GD in his speech. He said, “Oh no, I am saying Got not God. It is Got damn.” Once again, the spirit of the law is trumped by the letter of the law.

For too many years of my life I thought the commandment about not taking the Lord’s name in vain simply meant for us not to say God in front of some cuss word. If we did not say that then the commandment had been honored. Then I looked up the meaning of the words and found much more. A better interpretation would be, “Don’t pick up and carry the name of God in a flippant or meaningless manner.” In other words, don’t act what you don’t live. Don’t claim to be a better follower than you actually are.

I may be an old cynic, I think being old gives me that right, but I am tired of the constant bombardment with the “language of Zion.” It is probably an overreaction on my part, but it seems to me that too much of our religion is on the tip of our tongues and never gets any deeper.

I heard a preacher on television say “Praise God” not only at the end of every sentence but often in the middle as well. He turned that phase into the religious equivalent of “UH.”

OK enough of my soap box, how do I hallow His name?” Jesus warned against using holy talk to impress others. He talked about the Pharisees standing on street corners praying out loud so everyone would know how holy they were. He talked about saying what we mean and meaning what we say. Hypocrisy seemed to be the only thing that stirred His anger, and there was a constant call to action. Not just talk. He seemed to be much more afraid of having flippant followers than He was of having none.

When Peter had the tough experience of seeing Jesus face to face after he had denied Him the night of the crucifixion. Jesus asked him if he loved Him. Peter answered with a lesser word like I am your friend and Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.” Then He asked again and got the same response which led Jesus to say again, "Feed my sheep.” Then Jesus lowered the bar and asked if he was really His friend and Peter was crushed by his lowering of the question and said something like, “You know I am at least that,” and Jesus said, “Feed my sheep.” The message seems to be “Peter, it isn’t what you profess it is how you live out that profession.”

Hallowing His name to me involves about four things:

First
I need to fully understand and embrace the commitment I have made to follow Him. I need to first count the cost and then declare.

Second
I need to be honest, brutally honest with myself and to never act more holy than I really am, nor to use my faith to impress others.

Third
I need to realize the only way I can give anything to God is to give it to one of His children. The only way I can actually love God is to love the folks He loves: If you have done it to one of the least of these my brethren you have done it unto me.

Fourth
I need to shut up and go feed sheep.