The Name of the Lord

Something happened on my favorite show, American Idol, the other day that got me thinking about the 4th Commandment "Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord your God in vain." (KJV). A contestant on the show claimed to the camera that her voice was a gift of God. I cringed as soon as I heard her say it, because I know if you have to make such claims then they probably aren't true. Unfortunately, she proved me right. Her voice was horrible! My thought was, "God certainly doesn't need you to say those kinds of things. You're not doing Him any favors by claiming He gave you a gift that you clearly don't have."

That's when I started thinking about the 4th commandment and began a little research. Take in the Hebrew does mean similar to our english translation, but also means "lifted up". Name means "reputation" and vain means "emptiness". Yes, I believe that the commandment forbids us to use God's name in curses or empty, senseless uses. However, I think one can make the argument that the commandment is also referring to using God's name to "endorse" or "justify" whatever we wish. Especially when it comes to things that are expressly against His will, i.e. the Crusades. I'm horrified to think of how often we, as Christians, over the coarse of our history have used the Lord's name to validate a host of foolishness, wickedness, and other empty things. The 21st century term is "playing the God card". Just as this girl on A.I., we fail to bring God the glory He deserves when we uses His name so lightly and flippantly to meet our needs. I am going to be more aware now how and when I use the name of the Lord and to what I attribute to Him. I want all that I say to bring Him glory, especially when His name is in the sentence.

Just a little sample of what I've been gleaning from my Bible study. :)