A lot of people misunderstand the third commandment. The third commandment says, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.”

Most Christians think that means you shouldn’t say OMG. Now, you probably shouldn’t say OMG, but that’s just one part of what it means to break the third commandment. 

The third commandment means to misrepresent God. Now, you may say, how can taking God’s name in vain be a way of misrepresenting God? The reason is, because when you are a follower of God, you place God’s name upon yourself. Therefore, the way you behave will be a signpost of God to the world. 

For example, we followers of God today are most commonly known as Christians. Now think about this: what are the first six letters of Christian? Christ. When you’re known as a christian, you’re seen by unbelievers as a representative of Christ. 

That means when you show love as a Christian, you are showing people that God sees them and loves them and wants to know them. 

Likewise, if we show hate or malice toward people as a Christian, it gives the impression that God is angry with them and doesn’t like them, either. 

And that’s the essence of the third commandment. Yes, we shouldn’t use God’s name as a swear word. We shouldn’t tack God’s name onto things as a marketing strategy. We shouldn’t speak of God in a mocking way. That’s all part of this commandment. But misrepresenting God is the main way we take His name in vain. 

And what we’re going to see today is that God is not as laidback as Joan Jett when it comes to giving him a bad reputation. Turn to Ezekiel 36 as we continue that chapter today on the Cross References podcast.

0:00 - Introduction

2:15 - For the Sake of His Name

18:45 - Secondhand Embarrassment

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