Surely Thou wilt slay the wicked, O God; depart from me therefore, ye bloody men, For they speak against Thee wickedly, and Thine enemies take Thy Name in vain. Psalm, Chapter 139, verses 19-20.
It doesn’t sound to me that God takes it lightly when people curse Him or use His Name inappropriately. That’s why I am very concerned about people casually using “God” and “Jesus” in their everyday speech. I don’t think people realize how strongly God feels about it.
All the passages that say we aren’t to profane God’s Name or to use His Name in vain really made me stop and think. It has become very common these days for people to say “God” or “Jesus,” without really any thought. You hear people say things like, “God that was a great game!” “Jesus Christ! I ran out of bread again!” “Oh, good God, get off your high horse and give me a hand around here.”
Of course, I can’t mention all the possible ways I’ve heard people use God’s Name inappropriately. The point of great concern is that these people really aren’t focusing on God when they say these things. They aren’t praying or genuinely telling other people about God or glorifying Him either. God states very clearly throughout the Bible that we aren’t supposed to use His Name in vain.
Reading many passages about this in the Bible has caused me to become alarmed about this issue. I don’t think people realize how often they’re saying “God” or “Jesus,” in their everyday language. It’s on TV and it’s in the movies. Almost everyone seems to be doing it, even the little kids and people we respect. Some people who are doing this consider themselves to be good Christians. I don’t think these people even know they are using God’s Name in vain or that they are being a poor example of their faith in Jesus.
I realize that some people may not like hearing this. Most of us like thinking we are pretty good people. This may hurt our self-perception of the type of Christian we think we are. I’m hoping that we will get beyond this and become much more aware of the words we choose to use.
Using God’s Name in vain has become just casual slang, like, “Shucks” used to be when I was a kid. I hope one of the things that you get out of this book is a deeper awareness of this issue. Listen to people talk. What if each and every person who used God’s Name in vain as slang was to lose their Salvation? That would be a pitiful thing.
Maybe that’s what my job is. Maybe I’m supposed to make people aware that they are doing this. Maybe I’m supposed to draw their attention to the possible repercussions of using God’s Name in vain. I have no idea. I just know I felt led to write this book and God will take care of the rest!
Fortunately, God is very merciful and will forgive us if we ask Him to, provided we make the necessary changes to only use His Name in ways that glorify Him.
Here are some related passages:
*Thou shalt not take the Name of the LORD thy God in vain; for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh His Name in vain. Exodus, Chapter 20, verse 7.
*And ye shall not swear by My Name falsely, neither shalt thou profane the Name of thy God: I am the LORD. Leviticus, Chapter 19, verse 12.
*And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel
*And thou shalt not let any of thy seed pass through the fire to Molech, neither shalt thou profane the Name of thy God: I am the LORD. Leviticus, Chapter 18, verse 21.
*Thou shalt not take the Name of the LORD thy God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh His Name in vain. Deuteronomy, Chapter 5, verse 11.
