blue flower

Exodus 20 v 7 … the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless that misuses the Lord’s name.

 

God’s great name, his person, his attributes are his glory. He is the supreme Creator of all we can see or know, and all we cannot see and do not know. We can easily see then, that it is a great presumption on our part to play around with God. But such is the pride and blindness of our human hearts that that is exactly what many end up doing.

 

But God himself has given us a warning. He has said such people will not be held guiltless. It is popular in these days to deny all forms of guilt. It is amazing when one watches televised trials of notorious offenders who have committed the most atrocious deeds, to hear them plead: ‘not guilty’. It is part of the deception of the human heart to believe that we have not done anything wrong, or that we either did not realise what we were doing, or we never intended to give offence.

 

But no such arguments will hold on that day before the God of the whole Universe. Those who misuse the name of the Lord will not be held “guiltless”, but rather their guilt will be there for all to see.

 

Think of the many people you know who have profaned God’s Word, or joked about God, or mocked what Christians believe. Think of the responsibility of those who are ministers or pastors in the Church, yet do not preach the Word of God. Or think of those many people in our society who proclaim themselves pastors, ministers, bishops, prophets and whatever else, but who never preach about the Lord Jesus Christ and His atonement which is the great central truth of all scripture. All of these will meet up with God in due course and all will be told to account for themselves.

 

It is far better to be a true believer, humble and sincere, striving daily to live for Christ with whatever abilities God has given you, than to make haughty claims and to misuse the name of the Lord.

 

Prayer: O God. I fear for those who blatantly misuse your name, and I fear for myself, lest in my frailty I fall into the same trap. Please keep my feet from slipping. Amen