"You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain." (Exodus 20:7)
For fifty and some years, I never heard this commandment refer to anything other than cursing and swearing. Maybe that is part of it, but I believe there is a great deal more to this statement.
If we take on God's name and call ourselves Christian, we'd better not take the name lightly. We have to act the way God would if He were visible in our neighborhoods.
Jesus said, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." (Matt. 7:21) The people who hear this will be surprised.
For instance, two neighborhood young people go into a grocery store. One of them goes to church and Sunday school every week and calls himself a Christian. The other doesn't. The church-goer takes a pack of gum, stuffs it in his pocket, and walks out without paying for it. What does his neighbor think of God and His people now?
A young man and young woman go to Bible college, both professing to be committed Christians on a life mission to serve the Lord. The young man seduces the young woman. She finds she's pregnant. He abandons her. She gets an abortion and turns her back on God, never to trust Him or anyone else ever again. What reward should the young man get?
Several "pious" women in a church spread rumors and gossip about everyone in town including other church members. Three women, whose reputation has been shredded by this clique, leave the church never to darken its doors again.
Telling lies, cheating on a tax return, speeding down the highway with a Christian sticker on the back bumper, making unkind gestures at a stop light with that same bumper sticker, taking books out of the library that could NEVER be shared with Jesus... all of these actions are compared against the Name we claim to carry.
Count the cost. If you cannot be what you claim to be, then either quit claiming it or change. A real relationship with the Lord sets your mind on whatever is pure and true and noble, everything that is excellent and praiseworthy (Phil. 4:8). Be careful not to take the family Name in vain. We are what unbelievers see of God. We need to make Him beautiful and wonderful in front of the world.
For fifty and some years, I never heard this commandment refer to anything other than cursing and swearing. Maybe that is part of it, but I believe there is a great deal more to this statement.
If we take on God's name and call ourselves Christian, we'd better not take the name lightly. We have to act the way God would if He were visible in our neighborhoods.
Jesus said, "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." (Matt. 7:21) The people who hear this will be surprised.
For instance, two neighborhood young people go into a grocery store. One of them goes to church and Sunday school every week and calls himself a Christian. The other doesn't. The church-goer takes a pack of gum, stuffs it in his pocket, and walks out without paying for it. What does his neighbor think of God and His people now?
A young man and young woman go to Bible college, both professing to be committed Christians on a life mission to serve the Lord. The young man seduces the young woman. She finds she's pregnant. He abandons her. She gets an abortion and turns her back on God, never to trust Him or anyone else ever again. What reward should the young man get?
Several "pious" women in a church spread rumors and gossip about everyone in town including other church members. Three women, whose reputation has been shredded by this clique, leave the church never to darken its doors again.
Telling lies, cheating on a tax return, speeding down the highway with a Christian sticker on the back bumper, making unkind gestures at a stop light with that same bumper sticker, taking books out of the library that could NEVER be shared with Jesus... all of these actions are compared against the Name we claim to carry.
Count the cost. If you cannot be what you claim to be, then either quit claiming it or change. A real relationship with the Lord sets your mind on whatever is pure and true and noble, everything that is excellent and praiseworthy (Phil. 4:8). Be careful not to take the family Name in vain. We are what unbelievers see of God. We need to make Him beautiful and wonderful in front of the world.
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