Don’t embarrass the family name! If I heard it once, I heard it a million times on the way out the door during my high school and college years. For good reason too. I was up to no good.
Looking back on it, my behavior at the club was downright deplorable. I cursed! I threw clubs. I broke clubs. I gambled far beyond my means. We should stop there.
In college, my golf coach pulled me into the men’s locker room after the front nine during a qualifying match and soundly rebuked me for my outbursts. I wasn’t a Christian at the time, but I had a conscience. I was mortified.
The next semester, my father, unannounced, drove ninety minutes, put me in the driver’s seat, told me to drive, and read the entire book of Proverbs to me in hopes of getting my attention.
Like all parents, my parents knew I was coloring outside the lines. Obviously, they loved me and were concerned for my safety. They also knew that I could bring shame on the family name. Sadly, there were more than a few occasions that I had done just that.
As I was growing up the sun was setting on the Old South. It was a bewildering time. The sixties, if nothing else, saw seismic shifts in American norms. Long held customs were being challenged and overthrown. Of course, some of these customs needed jettisoning.
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Learning to reorient our lives around the Father’s name, kingdom, and will is easier said than done, but it remains the secret not only to a great prayer life but also the secret to a life well-lived.
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On the other hand, some cultural standards were guarded with a fierce commitment to traditional mores and biblical values. Having a “good name” was at the top of that list.
If we are appropriately concerned to guard the family name, how much more should we be jealous to honor the name of the Father? Jesus begins the Lord’s Prayer with, “When you pray, say: Father [in heaven], hallowed be your name.”
The first two petitions in Luke and the first three in Matthew revolve around things pertaining to the Father. The last three petitions concern our personal needs—provisions, forgiveness, and triumph over evil. This order matters.
Jesus is teaching us that prayer should begin with a vertical orientation toward heaven in honor of the Father; then, and only then, followed by our petitions regarding our personal needs.
Learning to reorient our lives around the Father’s name, kingdom, and will is easier said than done, but it remains the secret not only to a great prayer life but also the secret to a life well-lived.
Learning to revolve around God’s purposes is a matter of spiritual militancy— you must fight for it. In a moment of candor, we would all admit our natural tendency is to expect God to revolve around our desires— we want him to cater to us.
Jesus is teaching us that our starting point in prayer and life is to center around hallowing his name! To hallow is to “make sacred.” In scripture, God’s name is shorthand for all that he is— his character as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
To “hallow his name,” is to honor, revere, and adore him. In short, we are to stand in awe-struck wonder at the greatness of this Father— the Father who is “in heaven.”
To build a life of prayer, the place to start is to follow the Lord’s pattern of prayer. Begin with sustained adoration of this transcendent God and it won’t be long before you are caught up into his presence and lost in the wonder of his love and grace.
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Dennis Darville
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