God’s names throughout the Scriptures reveal His character and what He stands for. The more we hallow, or respect, His name, the more we will be delivered and be like Him. And how does that happen?
It happens when the sinner discovers that God is a “Savior.” When the estranged find in Him a “Father” to the fatherless. When the anxious learn of the “Prince of Peace.” Then the name is profoundly respected, the person of God is revered, and the heart of the believer is changed by the encounter.
We see an example of this life-changing encounter in Genesis 16, where the maid Hagar, abused by Abraham’s jealous wife Sarah, is driven away with her newborn son.
God finds her by a spring of water. He asks where she has come from and where she is going. Upon hearing her frank answer, that she was running away from Sarah, God gives her living water in the form of a promise and tells her to return to Sarah.
Hagar returns to a place of possibly more abuse, but this time she goes with a name for God: she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, “You-Are-the-God-Who-Sees.” Hagar is now fortified with a God who is looking over her, who sees her need, and makes and keeps his promises. She has colored inside the letters that spell God, and it is more meaningful to her.
In the Our Father prayer (Matthew 6:9), Jesus desires that the person praying will hallow the Father’s name in particular, to treasure the Father/child dynamic in the Christian life. Jesus found life when doing the Father’s will (John 4:34) and found joy abiding in Him (John 15:11).
By respecting this name for our God, we come to Him in a beautiful manner, as children dependent on and loving their heavenly Father. Do you hallow His Name? Has it become precious to you yet?
God does not intend to be afar off, but to come near to bear on our experiences. Jesus became a human being and so entered into the trials faced by His disciples as they followed His steps in the Kingdom. He continues to walk with us and reveal Himself to us. Thus Thomas called Him “my Lord and my God” (John 20:28). Peter called Him “the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matt. 16:16), and, “You are the Holy One of God” (John 6:69).
Look for echoes of Christ in all the Scriptures. Who He is becomes the foundation for discovering our own identity. Since He is Lord, then we are His servants (Matthew 25:14ff). How can we better serve Him? What do the Scriptures teach about this?
Jesus is the Bread of Life (John 6:31-40). How does that Name speak of our need? How does coming to Him and believing in Him (6:35) allay our hunger and thirst?
Keep reading the Scriptures and strengthening a right relationship with Jesus by learning of your connection with Him. Doing so, we should also learn more about the Father who is over all. Because how we relate to Jesus should mirror how Jesus related to the Father.
We believe and depend on Jesus Christ; Jesus depended on the Father. We serve the Christ and our fellow human beings; Jesus served the Father and those around Him. We grow to act like Christ and show Him to the world; Jesus said that to see Him was to see the Father.
If you have a hard time getting to know God as your heavenly Father, make it your prayer and pursuit to know Jesus more.
