Jesus said,
Pray then in this way ...
hallowed be your name.
Matthew 6:9
The Bible says that God is holy, holy, holy. Not that He is merely holy, or even holy, holy. He is holy, holy, holy.
The Bible never says that God is love, love, love, or mercy, mercy, mercy, or wrath, wrath, wrath, or justice, justice, justice. It does say that He is holy, holy, holy, the whole earth is full of His glory.
The above words are a famous quote from Bible teacher R. C. Sproul. And they introduce well Jesus' phrase, "hallowed be Thy name" (or "Father in Heaven, your name is holy").
Literally, "holiness" means something like "set apart" or "a step above." And God is obviously a few miles above us in terms of his majesty and power -- "There is no one like thee ... O Lord" (Psalm 86:8).
God is also miles above us in terms of goodness. And holiness also conveys and demands a sense of moral purity.
There's another attribute to the set apart nature of God's holiness: it is total and complete. Every aspect of his character -- always and eternally -- is holy. It is complete. Unwavering. Total. And true.
As R. C. Sproul says in his book The Holiness of God, "The tendency is to add the idea of the holy to this long list of attributes as one attribute among many. But when the word holy is applied to God, it does not signify one single attribute. On the contrary ... holy calls attention to all that God is."
God is. And all that God is is holy -- utterly above, beyond, pure, just, and good. And true prayer must begin by worshiping the transcendent glory (the holiness) of God.
Take a moment now to worship God's holiness!
In Christ's Love,
a guy who is holy, holy, holy
... I mean, holey, holey, holey!
(I leak! Patch me up, Lord.)
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