Glorify God’s name.
Therefore pray in this way: Our Father, who is in Heaven, Hallowed (sanctified, kept holy, venerated, honored,) be Your name (your nature.) Mat 6:9
His unique name represents His nature, just as someone who knows you well can describe your nature when another asks about you by name.
…for you are bought with a price. Therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s. 1 Cor. 6:20
The only way to glorify God is to have His nature.
Here’s how:
We have someone after whom we can pattern ourselves:
And God said, Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness. Gen 1:26a
(…God’s dear Son,) who is the image of the invisible God, the First-born of all creation. Col 1:13, 15
For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, for Him to be the First-born among many brothers. Rom 8:29
God’s Son makes it possible for us to have God’s nature:
Jesus said, “And I have given them the glory (the glory glorifies) which You have given Me, that they may be one, even as We are one, I in them, and You in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that You have sent Me and have loved them as You have loved Me.” Joh 17:22-23
Now we/ all, with uncovered~ face, mirroring~ the Lord’s glory, are being transformed~ into the same image, from glory to glory, even as from the Lord, the spirit. 2 Co 3:18 Concordant Literal Version
And I made known to them Your name (Your nature,) and will make it known, so that the love with which You have loved Me may be in them, and I in them. (Joh 17:26) The kind of love about which Jesus spoke, agape in Greek, produces life. So one way of reading Jesus’ words might be, “so that the measure of life you gave Me, may be in them.” See Joh 10:10
We glorify God by doing what Christ does:
I am the Vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. Joh 15:5
In this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, so you shall be My disciples. Joh 15:8
But I have greater witness than that of John, for the works which the Father has given Me that I should finish them, the works which I do themselves witness of Me, that the Father has sent Me. Joh 5:36
Truly, truly, I say to you, He who believes on Me, the works that I do he shall do also, and greater works than these he shall do, because I go to My Father. Joh 14:12
For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to good works, which God has before ordained that we should walk in them. Eph 2:10
What are those works?
“Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations; baptize them into the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit; and teach them to obey every command which I have given you. And remember, I am with you always, day by day, until the Close of the Age.” Mat 28:19-20 Weymouth
This is the obvious meaning of “the works that I do he shall do also” in order to “produce much fruit.” But very few of us are evangelizers. So how can we “produce much fruit”? The answer is, by “walking in the spirit” as Gal 5:22-25 brings out. That says, “But the fruit of the Spirit is: love, joy, peace, long-suffering, kindness, goodness, faith, meekness, self-control; against such things there is no law. But those belonging to Christ have crucified the flesh with its passions and lusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”
How can we do His works?
As we let Jesus’ light shine through us (Mat 5:14) we can attract those who hunger for God’s nature (Mat 5:6,) and then we can put them in touch with those who are the teachers (Eph 4:11) who can make disciples of the hungry ones.
The only way we can “walk in the spirit” is to accept Jesus’ invitation to “Come to Me all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke on you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest to your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” (Mat 11:28-30) Jesus is here offering us the opportunity to walk with him, step by step, as He does his Father’s work, so that we can learn from Him how to do that work.
And gradually, as Jesus transforms us, His co-laborers (1 Cor 3:9,) into His likeness, our fleshly nature matures into His spiritual nature. That is how we hallow God’s name – by reflecting His nature, His spirit. If you haven’t already joined us, would you like to?
All scriptures are from the Modern King James Version except as noted.
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