Friday of Lent 1

“Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” — Exodus 20:8–11

The hallowing of God’s name is inseparable from the hearing of God’s Word. Only by gladly hearing and learning God’s Word do we know who we should call upon in every trouble, to whom we should pray, praise, and give thanks. Therefore, Christians who want to grow in their piety and devotion to the one true God should not retreat to some private, inward meditative exercise, but rather go to church, to the Divine Service, to hear preaching and God’s Word.

These are the means by which God strengthen us in faith toward Him. When we despise preaching and God’s Word, it is only a matter of time before our faith withers and decays and finally dies. But a faith that regularly hears the Gospel of Jesus Christ crucified and is often fed and nourished by the Body and Blood of Christ will be bold and confident to ask God the Father for all things.

Then having been strengthened in faith toward God by His Word, we are likewise strengthened in love for one another. As the Commandments move from God’s name and Word to love for the neighbor, so God’s name is hallowed in the lives of His Christians through teaching the true and pure Word of God and through living holy lives according to that Word.

Would you have God’s name hallowed in your life? Hear God’s Word and love the neighbors whom God has given you: in your home, your congregation, your community as God’s Word instructs you.

Almighty God, by Your Word strengthen my faith toward You and my love toward others, that Your name would be hallowed in my life. Amen.