Hallowed Be Your Name

"Only the first petition of the Lord's Prayer is a prayer for an explicit act of the human heart in response to the infinite Treasure of God's holiness: Hallow it. Hallow the holiness of this name. Revere the holiness of this name. Honor, esteem, admire, value, treasure supremely the infinite worth of this name….May the grand, overarching, all-embracing, all-pervasive theme of your life be the magnificence of God — his holiness, his beauty, his worth, his greatness. Pray that God would do this. That's what Jesus is telling us to do. Pray that he would do it. First in you, and then through you, in the lives of others, and among the nations — that his name be hallowed….In eternity, we will hallow the name of God not as a means to anything. Hallowing the name of God is not a means to any greater end. The hallowing of God's name is the end, the final goal, of all things." (John Piper)

Defrauding God Of His Honor

"It follows that we gain nothing if all we do is satisfy our fellowmen. Sometimes, of course, we see signs of honourable behvaiour among many unbelievers. The vital element, however, is missing. They do not make God their aim; they do not honour him or understand what he requires by way of holiness. We should be careful never to take from men what is theirs. By the same token we must give to God what is his, and the things he reserves to himself. If we would not think of robbing our neighbour, it would be sacrilege to want to defraud God of his honour." (John Calvin, in Robert White, trans., Songs Of The Nativity [Carlisle, Pennsylvania: Banner of Truth, 2008], 103-4)

Jason Stellman Forgets Who God Is

Jason Stellman said:

After all, what is God by his very nature? Not a judge, not a creator, but a Father. And what do fathers do? They beget sons and daughters, reproducing their own image in their offspring.

Darrell Hart responded

… your math gets ahead of you when you say that God is by his “very” nature Father. Is that all the persons or just the father? What about saying God is essentially son or spirit? And when you mention spirit you may recall the Shorter Catechism on the attributes of God which don’t mention father as an attribute but do mention holiness and righteousness.

But what kind of father do you think God is? One slip in the garden and he casts his children out of paradise. Sorry but the forensic makes a whole lot more sense of Christ’s passion and God’s love than does your view of God as the ur-breeder. A son without law is a bastard. A father who doesn’t set rules and punish his children is an absentee parent.

No Contradiction at All

Mercy: “But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to me and do not try to stop them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” (Matt 19:14)

Justice: “It happened at midnight–the LORD [Christ] attacked all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, from the firstborn of Pharaoh who sat on his throne to the firstborn of the captive who was in the prison, and all the firstborn of the cattle.” (Exod 12:2)