Jesus Christ!

“Jesus Christ!”

“Oh my God!”

My friend was not having a good day!

Everything within me cringed. I looked at her and said “Stop saying the Lord’s name in vain”. Her automatic response was “I know, I know. It’s a bad habit”

I knew that was not the time to speak more on this and so I prayed for a right time but also the Lord’s wisdom in how to help her, myself and others with this really bad habit.

Early Christians revered the name of God. So much so that they didn’t even say HIS name. In the early days they respected the name of God. Early translations from Hebrew was YWYH. Today, the English language pronounces this as Yaweh.

There are many reasons we can attribute to why society has fallen, but the liberal use of God and Jesus Christ in every day conversations is a blatant irreverence to our God.

How can we fulfill our mission and purpose in life (which is to glorify God) when with the same mouth we disrespect and dishonor HIS name? We can’t.

We don’t glorify God when we proclaim HIS name in vain for every exclamation happening in our life.

My friend is a Christian.

Woe to her, but woe also to me if I didn’t have the courage to speak with her in love about this really ‘bad habit’ many of us have developed.

The “I AM WHO I AM”, the Creator of the Universe, YWYH has warned us and commanded us: “You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.” Exodus 20:7

How mighty is HIS name.

We were taught the power of HIS name in Romans 10:13 “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” and John 14:13 “And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”

We were taught to pray in reverence to HIS name “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be thy name…” (Matthew 6:9)

Can I tell you… I am definitely not perfect. I also said the Lord’s name in vain in very innocent situations and conversations. Another famous one used to be “Holy s$/@” … We all know there ain’t nothing holy in that! But as I grow closer to Christ and as my spiritual eyes are widened even further in how much the devil wants to pull us all away from Christ it makes me want to fight harder.

But this isn’t only about our words. It’s also about our actions as children of God. Are we living a life of reverence to God?

Food for thought: God wins in the end! But it doesn’t mean that we don’t have a fight along the way. As HIS agents in HIS kingdom, we are all called to look at our lives and weed out the dirty habits. Cursing with HIS name and using HIS name in vain is a very bad habit! Get rid of it.

Prayer: Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us today our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one. Amen

God’s grace, mercy and peace be with you.