The Lord's Name in Vain.

Exodus 20:7
7 "You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.

I mentioned a couple weeks ago that I was going to talk about our choice of language last week. However, I got a little side tracked. So here it is for the next few days...

What a strong statement mentioned in today's verse! This just shows that we have to be careful what we say because we could end up paying the consequences in the end. This verse is one of the ten commandments, and states that we must not use the Lord's name in vain. This doesn't just have to be with our mouth, however. It can also include our actions.

If you think about it, if we even just let God down, we're using his name in vain, such as if we worship him without any meaning. Such false promises are a devastating blow to God's name.

The obvious way of using his name in vain is by violently swearing for no reason. It's never good to curse God's name because what did he do to you? Nothing. He's loved you all this time. There's no reason we should lash out and destroy God's beautiful name.

Finally, we should not use his name lightly or without sincere meaning. God has power and he deserves, at the very least, to be recognized properly.

As a sinner, you may see yourself as guiltless when using God's name in vain. He does forgive us, right? Honestly, this is where I'm a little shaky on explaining it. I do gather that using his name in such an ungodly manner is a serious issue. He wants us to know that we will go to him when our time comes. Everyone will be judged by God. He will avenge those who use his name in vain, and being that God is living, those who commit this wrongdoing will be fearful of God. I guess if we do make the mistake we have to be sure and not do that again!

Meanwhile, I'm finishing up the series of songs today and tomorrow from the groups who were at Way Fest last weekend.

Here's Matt Redman's "Blessed Be Your Name!"



P.S. If you have trouble with the video stopping and starting, keep the video paused, and let it "buffer" (load) as it's called for a while. You will see the red bar along the bottom advance (speed depends on your Internet connection). Wait until that bar gets pretty far along (I'd say more than halfway) before you play the video and it shouldn't pause.