Verse of the Day 10/20
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. English Standard Version (ESV)
Today's verse comes from the passage in Exodus that gives us the 10 commandments. They are not suggestions but commandments. When we read today's verse we know, it is in the back of our minds at all times, yet somehow the cares and busyness of life and the "pride of life" allow us to disobey this rule. When we read it again it is also easy to focus on our speech. We may think of it as not cussing or cursing, but there is more to it than that.
Pastor James MacDonald gives us a better understanding of what taking His name in vain" means when he writes:
Though we can certainly blaspheme the Lord by our talking, to take God's name means to lift, carry, or bear, just as the high priest, Aaron, would bear the names of the twelve tribes before God in the Holy Place (see Exodus 28:9–12). The concept is representation. If you've embraced Jesus Christ by faith for your forgiveness, then you bear a name. You represent Him. To take the name of the Lord in vain is to misrepresent Him. If you call yourself a Christian, then you must represent Christ accurately and respect Him totally. As author and theologian Elton Trueblood noted, "The worst blasphemy is not profanity, but lip service." Jesus critiqued, "This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me" (Matthew 15:8). Moving lips don't equal a Christ-honoring life.
Obviously, more than our speech is involved here. It is humbling and sobering. It is a question about how we are representing God, representing Jesus. Yes, our speech is involved, but the bigger question is are we even close to representing Him with our lives, our actions, accurately with total respect? Paying lip service is no service at all, but a dis-service.
-- In Christ, Mike Folllow the Verse of the Day blog at http://mikesvotd.blogspot.com Ephesians 1:7 In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace. NIV
Exodus 20:1-7New Living Translation (NLT)
Ten Commandments for the Covenant Community
20 Then God gave the people all these instructions[a]:
2 "I am the Lord your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of your slavery.
3 "You must not have any other god but me.
4 "You must not make for yourself an idol of any kind or an image of anything in the heavens or on the earth or in the sea. 5 You must not bow down to them or worship them, for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God who will not tolerate your affection for any other gods. I lay the sins of the parents upon their children; the entire family is affected—even children in the third and fourth generations of those who reject me. 6 But I lavish unfailing love for a thousand generations on those[b] who love me and obey my commands.
7 "You must not misuse the name of the Lord your God. The Lord will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name.
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