Father,
You are the great
God, the Creator and Sustainer of us all. Every person who has ever lived is
deeply indebted to You. That's not just a matter of all the things of this life
that have been enjoyed, and there are many, especially for people like us. No, it's
simply a matter of experiencing life itself.
But for us there is
more, much more. And that's because for us You are also the great Redeemer.
Being rich in mercy and because of Your great love with which You loved us, You
decided to rescue us from sin and death, and to exalt us in Jesus. And as we consider
what life, now and especially later, would be without You, we acknowledge our
immense debt to You.
And so, Father,
because of these things and more, we pray, 'Hallowed be Thy name.' Because of
who You are and what You have done, You deserve to be honored and held in the
highest esteem. You really are the great God.
You deserve such
things, Father, and yet, You do not received them, not to the extent that You
should. And, sad to say, we are among those who fail in this. We, who have
experienced so much of Your mercy and grace, we have been distracted by the
things of this life so that we do not honor You as we ought.
We are ashamed of
what we have done. There is no excuse. How could there be? But, again, because
of Your mercy and grace, there is forgiveness because of Jesus. And so, we ask
for that. We ask that You would forgive our failure.
But we do not ask
merely for that forgiveness. We also ask that You would change us. You have
changed us, and we are grateful for that. But we ask that You change us more.
Make us like the psalmist so that we can also say,
Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You I desire nothing on the earth.
We ask for this,
Father, because it is as this desire for You grows in us that we will honor You
more like You deserve. We will hallow Your name.
Father, it really is
good to know that a day is coming when we will no longer be distracted by the things of this world. A day
is coming when we will spend every moment living in a way that reflects how
special You are to us. We look forward to that day so that we can hallow Your name
properly as an expression of our love for You. That will be an awesome day, a
great gift of the Gospel of Jesus, through whom we offer this prayer to You.
Amen.