the third commandment

The third commandment, or second depending on the denomination, is written in the King James under Exodus 20 verse 7 as:

"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."

Growing up in my household that particular commandment meant that the children shouldn't say, 'oh my god' outside of prayer.

As I got older, youth groups focused on 'matters of the heart' and 'deliberate thought.' The commandment came to mean that one should be so often focused on God that whenever one thought of or heard mention of God or Jesus Christ, one's thoughts immediately focused on holy things.

I learned important qualities in both of these situations. First, I practiced monitoring my speech, and later I was challenged to reflect on what the name of God meant to me.

And sometime after that, I heard an interesting perspective concerning the rest of this commandment. Sadly, I do not remember if this came from a book, friend, sermon, or billboard. But the premise was this:

Often as Christians, we say our actions are 'in the name of the Lord' and that 'God has called us.' Hopefully, most Christians are following God's will and call and proclaiming such! But if we are taking action in a manner that God has not called us, and we claim that it was God's calling, then are we not taking the Lord's name in vain?

Hmmm...reason five hundred million billion for praying: to stay in communion with Him so as to know His calling for our lives.

Thank you Kind Father for forgiveness!

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