Welcome to Friday, August 20th!

Today’s episode of The Cross Talk Daily Devotional is titled:

God's Name

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Scripture references are from the New American Standard Bible: 1995 Update (La Habra, CA: The Lockman Foundation, 1995}

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God's Name

In today's culture and society, we hear God's name being taken in vain many times a day, whether within a conversation or in the media. It's almost looked upon as a badge of honor to wrongly use the Lord's Name, to include coarse and crude language in a conversation.

Several days ago, I shared a devotional on habits. Unfortunately, taking God's name in vain and using vulgar and offensive language is a habit for many individuals. If we bring it to their attention, they even deny the frequency of such language.

Sadly, their use of such words influences their children to do the same. It especially bothers me when small children use such language.

Listen now to this commandment:

Exodus 20:7 NAS95 says,

"You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not leave him unpunished who takes His name in vain.

WHAT DOES GOD REQUIRE OF US IN THE SECOND COMMANDMENT? We should fear and love God so that we do not curse, swear, conjure, lie, or deceive, by His Name, but call upon Him in every time of need and worship Him with prayer, praise, and thanksgiving.

My mother always reminded us of the following:

The English language contains plenty of words with which to express oneself without resorting to using words that dishonor the Lord.

That's very true, isn't it?

Notice that my mother did not refer to only recognizable swear words. Instead, she meant to include any such language that dishonored the Lord.

As with the First Commandment, our obedience is to be more than just outwardly. Outward obedience lends itself to a form of hypocrisy.

Notice in the explanation it says we should fear and love God so that we do not engage in such behavior. Therefore, our overall and daily obedience must be a result of our fear and love of God.

That also makes sense, doesn't it?

Do we like our name used vainly or flippantly? We do not.

Notice that the explanation of this commandment includes more than what we colloquially call swearing. It includes associating God's Name with anything that brings Him dishonor, that lowers His Name, anything that blasphemes His Name.

We break this commandment through profanity, frivolity, and hypocrisy. Profanity refers to cursing, frivolity to superficial usage, and hypocrisy to acting in a way that disgraces Him.

If you still struggle with such language at times, confess it as sin and ask the Lord to help you be more aware of the words you use.

Let's Pray,

Gracious Heavenly Father,

It is our desire never to show You dishonor.

Please help us to guard our hearts and minds so that our tongues only speak what is honorable.

Thank You for the forgiveness of sin.

In the Name of Jesus,

Amen!