In Case You Missed It

Just about every Christian and a large number of unbelievers are familiar with the Lord's Prayer. Gina at Refreshment in Refuge recently did a little interesting piece on the Lord's Prayer, a conversation with God from someone who is praying. Quite convicting.

One of the things that I've noted over the years that I find almost all Christians that I know seem to have missed is this tricky little test question: What is the very first request in the Lord's Prayer? Feel free to peek. It's an open book test. Just one question. Not too hard. Almost everyone I know will say, "The first request is that God's kingdom would come." See? Easy.

Unfortunately, it's also wrong. The very first request is given in the very first sentence: "Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name." "No, no," you assure me gently, "that's not a request; that's a statement." Well, actually, no. If it was a statement, the phrase would be "hallowed is Your name." But in this case, the verb tense is not present, but future. This is a request, not a statement.

Jesus tells us "Don't pray like the hypocrites (Matt 6:5-8). Instead, pray like this ..." (Matt 6:9-13). His very first (and, therefore, likely most urgent) request is simple. "Father, may Your name be held as holy." He asks that because we live in a world that does not hold God's name as holy. He asks that because God's holiness is of paramount importance. He asks that because God's holiness informs all the other components of this prayer.

Maybe you don't agree that it's a request. No big deal. I would hope, though, that you would recognize that our world does not regard God as holy, that even we tend to fall into that, and that we need to constantly recognize His holiness. That is, even if you don't agree that it's the first request in this prayer, perhaps you'll agree that it should be.