If you are a Christian, please stop taking the Lord’s name in vain. This means please stop saying, “Oh, my God!” without actually crying out to God.

A Good God has a Good Reason to be Called on

If you believe in God, then by all means call on his name. But, do so with reverence, respect and at the appropriate time. I think most of the people that just blurt out “Oh my God” don’t even think about what they are actually saying or who they are actually addressing. If you are a parent, and your child incessantly for no real, good reason says your name like a thousand times, “Mommy, Mommy, Mommy” it probably bothers you just a little. In honesty, it probably annoys you greatly and your response is probably not all that it could or should be. But, my point is this, if it bothers you to have your name called for no, good reason, then shouldn’t it bother us if we call on God’s name for no good reason? If you don’t have a good reason to call on God by name, then keep your mouth shut or say something else. God is good. His name is good. Have a good reason to call on his name.

I find people that don’t take God’s name serious, normally don’t their relationship to God very serious.

Stop for a minute and think about the most devout, most holy or most Christ-like people you know, do they say “Oh my God”? I doubt it. I think using the name of God and Jesus so casually is reflective of the casual form of Christianity that is practiced in our culture today. Stop for a minute and ask yourself: When did it actually become okay to take the Lord’s name in vain? It didn’t, but as our relationship to God has become more casual than formal, culturally we began to accept calling God’s name without purpose, which actually means in vain.

I am thankful that when I was a boy my parents took their relationship to God seriously. So seriously, that if we were watching a television show and someone took the Lord’s name in vain, that show was turned off and would not be turned on again. You didn’t hear a lot of people using the Lord’s name in vain. Among Christians it wasn’t acceptable. And no matter how much our culture changes, for Christ’s followers it will never be acceptable.

Trading Formal for Casual

We have traded formal Christianity for casual Christianity. This was never the call. The call is to a personal relationship. Christians have somehow started accepting a casual form of Christianity instead fighting for relational Christianity. We’ve thrown out formal and replaced it casual. Casual means relaxed and unconcerned. Yikes! If you are truly a follower of Jesus Christ, then you definitely don’t want a relaxed or unconcerned relationship with the God of the Universe. Jesus Christ wants an authentic relationship with you. Great relationships always take great work. Why then are we so largely unconcerned with our relationship to God through Jesus Christ? There are probably many reasons, but at the bottom of all of it we have seemed to accept that we can be a Christian, yet not be serious about Christ and his Kingdom. This is a great error and it explains why we are unable to produce serious disciples, we, ourselves aren’t serious enough.

God does want you to think of him seriously, reverently, but also with approachability–relationally.

If you actually know someone and you care about them, it is rare that you would misuse, slander or use their name as a curse or casual expression of exasperation.  If you really know someone, then you actually use their name when you are addressing them or speaking highly of them. If you know them, you can approach them. God wants to be approached by his people. But, just as a respectful child approaches his father, so much more should we approach God, our Heavenly Father.

It’s easy to say whatever, whenever about whoever if you don’t actually know them and don’t fear any retribution from them. You know why? Because the speaker can’t be heard. People who think they are out of earshot or out of hearing are much more free to speak what’s in their heart, thinking they will not be heard.  But, let me let you in on something that you might have forgotten: God hears and records everything, including every time you have misused his name. Nothing is hidden from God (Hebrews 4:13).

What does it mean to “take the Lord’s name?” and is it still relevant today?

Isn’t it offensive to you for someone to lie about you and misrepresent your name? Of course it is. God feels the same way. How do I know this? Because the first time that God clarified what he expected from man (so that man was without excuse) God said (Exodus 20:7),

“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.”

This expression “in vain” means “with emptiness,” “nothingness” or “falsehood.” So, when someone takes the Lord God’s name in vain, they are saying his name as nothing and simultaneously denying his character. A lot of Christians say the Lord’s name in vain. They have heard it said so much and they themselves have said it so often, that they don’t even hear themselves saying it.  Hearing God’s name used in vain (or Jesus’s name) should make you cringe, especially if it comes out of your own mouth! It should be like nails on a chalkboard to your soul. You know why? Because, if you are a Christian, God’s Holy Spirit, the Third Member of the Trinity, lives in your soul. He doesn’t like to hear his name misused, misrepresented or misspoke. It is offensive to him. It grieves him.

Your words matter. Someone will argue that we are in now in the New Covenant and that we are under grace, so it really doesn’t matter what we say. Well, they would be flat wrong. Jesus said (Matthew 12:36-37),

“I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak, for by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”

The Old Covenant was not thrown out like expired milk, although some would have you to believe that. We just now understand that we wipe the foam off the top to get to the whole milk underneath. The power behind/under the principles that were revealed under the Law certainly remain. Yes, we are under grace, but grace is not to be cheap or wasted. We are to be serious in our understanding and not stay as children with immature understanding and careless, unconcerned habits. We must grow more serious the more wicked our world becomes.

Think before you Speak

How do we sing God’s name in one breath and then use it as an exasperation with the next breath. The same person that will sing songs to Jesus in worship in the sanctuary or in their car will the very same day say “Oh, my God!” when they are cut off by another car in the church parking lot or spill their coffee in their car. Think more about Jesus and you won’t accept his name being misused coming out of your mouth. I think most Christians today haven’t been taught not to misuse his name. The world will always misuse his name, but we shouldn’t. We are called into God’s family, why then would, we, ourselves use the name of our Most High Father with anything but reverence?

“Let them praise the name of the LORD, for his name alone is exalted; his majesty is above earth and heaven.” Psalm 148:13

Don’t take his name. Don’t use his name. Don’t curse his name.

Praise His name.

(c) Alex Vann, 2018