IT'S NOT MY NAME YOU'RE USING

Reading: Matthew 6.9 "Our Father in heaven, holy be your name ..."

In my first church I had a wonderful friend named Jay. He was always telling people about his church and eager to introduce them to his young preacher. Jay was one of the church's deacons. He was also an auto mechanic, working for a shop that serviced and sold cars imported from England and Europe. One day he invited me to his shop to meet his boss, a man named Bob. Bob was a tall, cheerful, and garrulous man, ideally suited to sell cars.

When we arrived at the shop, however, Bob was anything by cheery. His head was stuck deep under the hood of a car along with his arms and hands. We heard banging and grunting and cursing. Bob was obviously having trouble with a repair. As we stepped up Jay began, "Bob, I'd like you ..." Before he could complete the sentence, Bob exploded "God d.....! Jesus, H .....!" (You can fill in the blanks). Jay, however, was still rolling and completed his sentence as Bob uttered the second, "Damn!" "... my preacher.!"

Bob emerged from under the hood, red-faced and embarrassed. As he quickly wiped grease from his hands to shake mine, he said sheepily, "I guess I shouldn't have been talking like that in front of a preacher."

My response: "I wouldn't worry about me, it wasn't my name you were using."

At the core of Jesus' instructions to his disciples during that famous prayer lesson, we are taught to say, "Holy is your name." How we use God's name is an expression of our reverence for Him--our honoring Him, our taking Him seriously. It is an our expression of our recognition that He is God and His name represents His power and position and purpose.

Does the way we speak to Him or about Him reflect our recognition of His holiness?

(c) 2012 BY STEPHEN DUNN

This post originally appeared in my devotional blog, THRIVING IN CHRIST