What If "Hallowed Be Thy Name" Is the Most Important Prayer We Pray?

A couple of weeks ago, I was reading a social media thread discussing one of the many topics currently creating debate within the Church. I make it a point to never comment on these discussions. I read them only to get a feel for the current debates taking place within the Body of Christ.

But...

On one particular post, a commenter remarked that he would rather hear a donkey preach than a woman. As a woman (who has no desire to be a pastor or to debate the issue of women pastors on social media), that still hit me hard. I couldn't help but respond to that unnecessary and degrading remark. Regardless of where you stand on women pastors, the implication was unmistakable—and quite harsh. (Plus, when a donkey did speak in Scripture, it was God who gave it the words to say— you'll be happy, and maybe even surprised, that I resisted the temptation to point that out). 😂

When I responded, I did not argue about whether women can preach, but I made it clear that I thought the comment was unnecessarily disrespectful and asked him to follow Jesus' example and be respectful toward women (see the pic). What Facebook deleted was his response to me. He called me a "snowflake" and said that "Jesus turned over tables in the Temple when truth was at stake."

To be fair, being called a snowflake wasn't the worst thing that's ever happened to me. Honestly, I'm not even sure why Facebook deleted the comment. I laughed when I read it.

But the exchange stayed with me.

Not because someone disagreed with me. Christians have wrestled with difficult theological questions for centuries. Nor was it because someone called me a name. What troubled me was something deeper.

What if I had been an unbeliever reading that thread?

What if I had been genuinely seeking answers about Jesus?

What if my only exposure to Christianity that day had been believers belittling one another while discussing matters of faith? Would I have been drawn toward Christ?

Or would I have concluded that His followers were no different from everyone else?

The reality is that unbelievers read those threads every day. They watch our debates. They observe how we treat one another. They listen to our words long before they listen to our theology. Whether we like it or not, many people will form their first impressions of Jesus through His followers. And every believer participating in these discussions—including me—says something about Jesus by the way they engage.

As I thought about that, my mind went to a familiar phrase from the Lord's Prayer:

"Hallowed be Thy Name."

Most of us know those words by heart. Yet I wonder how often we stop to consider what they mean.

The hallowing of God's Name is meant to be the first concern of God's people. Jesus taught us to pray, "Hallowed be Thy Name," before He taught us to pray for anything else. And when we pray that God's Name would be hallowed, we are praying that His reputation would be honored, revered, and represented rightly in the world. We are also committing ourselves to live in a way that helps make that happen.

People learn something about the God we serve by watching the way we live. Through our words, attitudes, and actions, we either help others see Him more clearly or we distort the picture.

There is no neutral ground.

Another part of the response to my comment was that "Jesus overturned tables when truth was at stake." And while I'd argue that legalism—and the disregard for people that often accompanies it—was a significant part of the problem in the Temple that day (another point I refrained from making on that post), he was right about one thing:

Jesus did overturn tables. Truth mattered deeply to Jesus.

But so did people.

The same Jesus who overturned tables was also described as being "full of grace and truth" (John 1:14). Notice John didn't say Jesus was full of grace or truth. He was full of both.

He never sacrificed one for the sake of the other.

Grace and truth are not competing virtues. We are not called to choose between them. We are called to pursue both because Jesus embodied both. In fact, people mattered so much to Him that He willingly gave His life to redeem them.

That is why the way we engage one another matters so much.

We need to remember that all the debates taking place within the Church today are bigger than any one of us. They are bigger than our denominations, our conferences, our social media platforms, and our personal preferences or opinions.

And the stakes are higher than we often realize—or are willing to admit.

Jesus prayed that His followers would be one "so that the world may believe" He is who He said He is (John 17:21). The answer to Jesus' prayer is not the abandonment of conviction. It is not avoiding difficult conversations. And it certainly is not pretending that truth no longer matters. It means that the manner in which we engage one another matters because we represent Christ as we do so.

The watching world is not merely evaluating our arguments.

They're evaluating our Savior.

They are deciding whether the Jesus we proclaim is worth listening to. Every harsh word, every careless comment, every sarcastic dismissal, every act of contempt from any one of us who claim Jesus as our Savior communicates something about the God whose Name we bear.

That is why "Hallowed be Thy Name" may be one of the most important prayers we pray.

For those watching from the outside, eternity may just hang in the balance.


💙 Jamie

I’d love to hear your (respectfully stated) comments:
Do you think the way you speak about others helps hallow God's Name—or does it make it harder for others to see Him as He truly is?