“Let Your name be kept holy.” (Matthew 6:9)
We pray that God’s name will be honored and treated with respect. God’s name represents Himself. He is worthy of our worship. We can praise God for Who He is, and for what He does. We can do so by the words we speak or sing, but also by our thoughts and actions.
We find many cases in the Bible where people praise God’s name, for example in the Psalms: “I will exalt You, my God, the King. I will praise Your name forever and ever. Every day I will praise You. I will extol Your name forever and ever.” (Psalm 145:1-2)
We pray that God’s name will be kept holy not just by us, but also by others. God is worthy of the whole world’s praise: “Shout for joy to Yahweh, all you lands!” (Psalm 100:1). We can encourage others to do so, by our example or by our words.
In our present age, many people ignore and dishonor the Lord God. But at the end of time, all creation will honor Him as holy. When His Kingdom finally comes, every single human will bow at His name and acknowledge Him. We are looking forward to that moment, and therefore we ask God to let His Kingdom come (more about that tomorrow).
How can you honor God’s name in your everyday life?