“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.” Exodus 20:7
When you were a child, did your mother wash out your mouth with soap when you said bad words? Mine did. But it wasn’t only “cuss words”, it was any time I or my siblings took the Lord’s name in vain. That got the most scrubbing. I am so glad that I was taught this third commandment when I was a child, because I never got in the habit of using the name of the Lord in a wrong way. I feel sorry for children today who have not been taught as I was.
Even now, it offends me when I hear someone take the name of the Lord in vain. That means that I am often offended these days. Books, movies, TV, plays, and so many conversations are guilty of using the Lord’s name wrongly. Non-Christians don’t know any better, but Christians should. The Bible is clear on how we should speak about the Lord. Job knew that he should keep his mouth shut (Job 42:1-6). Isaiah knew that his lips were unclean (Isaiah 6:5-7). God cares about his name, and because he cares, we should care. We are to have reverence for God’s name.
There are lots of books written about reverence for God, but the one book I recommend is R.C. Sproul’s book THE HOLINESS OF GOD. It helped me understand more fully the reverence and awe with which I should approach God. I must not be flippant with God in any way. He’s not my buddy, nor my servant, nor my therapist. He is the Almighty God, the Creator of the universe and all that there is within it – including me.
If I take the name of the Lord in vain, he declares me guilty of breaking his command. Therefore, I want to be careful not to use certain expletives:
O my God!
God damn!
Jesus Christ!
Christ!
I was taught as a child, and I taught my children, not to
take the name of the Lord in vain. Nobody
wants to have their mouth washed out with soap.
But infinitely more important than that, nobody wants to stand guilty
before the Lord in breaking this commandment.
Amen. I remember when I was 12 and I heard my older brother do so. I was shocked. Today many younger then that do it with out any parent responding. I cannot wait to call Jesus by name when I see Him face to face.
ReplyDeleteAmen, Rosemary. I find it ironic that people who claim there is no God, or don't have anything to do with Him, will use Jesus' name when they want to swear big. Even they know intuitively that He is holy.
ReplyDelete