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Hallowed Be Thy Name
first phrase of The Lord's Prayer. HALLOWED BE THY NAME "Were we left to ourselves, any praying we did would both start and end with ourselves, for our natural self-centeredness knows no bounds. Indeed, much pagan praying of this kind goes on among supposedly Christian people. But Jesus' pattern prayer, which is both crutch, road, and walking lesson for the spiritually lame like ourselves, tells us to start with God: for God matters infinitely more than we do. So "thy" is the keyword of the opening three petitions, and the first request of all is "hallowed (holy, sanctified) by THY NAME" - which is the biggest and the most basic request of the whole prayer. Understand it and make it your own, and you have unlocked the secret of both prayer and life." -- J. I. Packer, from Chapter 5 of I WANT TO BE A CHRISTIAN, Tyndale House Publishers, 1977. [This is a great little book that provides a phrase by phrase study of the Apostles' Creed, the Lord's Prayer, and the Ten Commandments.] Have a great week, Chip Stam |