Wasting God

High on God's list of "10 Words" -- the Ten Commandments -- is "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain." (Exo 20:7) Well, we know what that means. "Don't use the word, 'God,' in a flippant manner. Good. We can avoid that. Move on." The Jews took it further, trying to avoid using it at all. So you'll see them writing "G_d" so as not to actually spell it out just to be sure it's not used in vain. Very diligent. And missing the point.

It misses the point on two counts. First, God's name is not "God." That's His title. His name is the Tetragrammaton, the famous YHWH that He gave to Moses at the burning bush. "I am." He is the self-existent One, depending on no one, without beginning or end, the uncaused Cause, the unmoved Mover. That's who He is. Second, in Scripture the use of the concept of "the name" wasn't merely a word that designated you. When Jesus said, "If you ask Me anything in My name, I will do it," (John 14:14), He wasn't requiring an obligatory, "In Jesus's name, Amen" at the end of every prayer. There is no magic in repeating a word that designates Jesus. "The name" meant something. It meant "Who I am." So His name "is Holy" (Isa 57:15) and "Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace." (Isa 9:6) Joseph was told, "You shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins." (Matt 1:21) He was named "to deliver" because He was the Savior. Names were not mere designators; they were descriptors of who they were.

Feed that back into that commandment, then. "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain." That is, "You shall not take the nature of the Lord your God in vain. You shall not take all that He is in vain. You shall not take anything about the reality of who the Lord your God is in vain."

Now it gets hard, doesn't it? Don't take Him in vain. Don't minimize His power. Don't ignore His wisdom. Don't claim to follow Him while pursuing other "gods." Don't ignore His commands. Don't act as if He's not there. Don't fail to glorify Him at all times.

If "no other gods before me" is first on the list (Exo 20:3) and actually represents our #1 sin -- we routinely have other gods that precede Him -- then taking who He is in vain would likely be an equally inclusive problem for us. We routinely minimize God in our lives. "Oh, He didn't mean that when He said it." "Well, sure, I know what He commanded, but it isn't particularly suitable in today's culture." "Obedience is hard; I think I'll try for fun instead." We daily take the Lord our God in vain. We constantly love Him too little. It is, then, an astounding mercy to be forgiven by the blood of Christ and calls for daily efforts to stop that kind of blind sin. If He is indeed Lord, we owe Him much more than we're giving Him.