“You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.”
May 4, 2023
Sometimes we’re such hypocrites. We sing, “My Jesus, I love Thee. I know Thou art mine. For Thee all the follies of sin I resign.”[1] Do you sing that and still keep sin in your heart? We sing, “Take my silver and my gold, not a mite would I withhold.”[2] And yet we hold onto our possessions with all of our might. We sing, “Faith of our fathers, holy faith, we will be true to Thee till death,”[3] and think nothing of skipping church if a good excuse comes up. We sing, “All to Jesus I surrender. All to Him I freely give.”[4] If you don’t mean that, you are taking the name of God in vain. You can do it with profanity. You can do it by frivolity. You can do it through hypocrisy.
But in the negative, there is a positive. When we learn to take His name in victory, we’ll certainly be afraid to take His name in vanity. Colossians 3:17 says, “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” That’s taking His name in victory.
[1] “Jesus, I Love Thee” by William R. Featherston
[2] “Take My Life, and Let It Be” by Frances R. Havergal
[3] “Faith of Our Fathers” by Frederick William Faber
[4] “I Surrender All” by Judson W. Van De Venter
Write down a list of things you do in a day, then consider what it would look like to do those things in the powerful name of Jesus.
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