The Meaning Of Life

https://biblehub.com/nkjv/deuteronomy/5.htm

First Commandment – Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

Second Commandment – 8‘You shall not make for yourself a carved image—any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth; 9you shall not bow[c] down to them nor serve them. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, [d]visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, 10but showing mercy to thousands, to those who love Me and [e]keep My commandments.

Third Commandment –

11‘You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him [f]guiltless who takes His name in vain.

I’m not sure my parents ever explained to me, or if it was something I learned in church, or if it was something discussed with neighbor kids while playing. But as a child, I was always under the impression that “taking the Lords name in vain” meant cursing, and specifically, using the “g-damned” phrase. And of course there were others, it was a violation of this Commandment to even say something like “Oh my God!”, or if you saw something traumatic to exclaim “Jesus!”. It even went so far that if you said, “Gosh!”, that was just of another way of saying “God!”, and “Gee!” or “Gee Whiz!” was another slang way of saying “Jesus!” or “Jesus Christ!”

But taking the Lords name in vain goes beyond cursing, or as Merriam Webster calls it, “irreverently”.

Using the a name in a blasphemous manner is another definition of the word “vain”.

“in an irreverent or blasphemous manner” – Merriam Webster

And what is “blasphemy”? “the act of claiming the attributes of a deity“ – Merriam Webster

I’m making a confession today. Before today, I enjoyed secular music. What I most liked about the songs were the tunes, as I admit there are many I didn’t know the lyrics to. But even with those songs of which I am familiar with the lyrics, I never examined the lyrics, never studied them, never thought about them. They were just words accompanying a catchy tune. But after today, I’m swearing off secular music, because those words have meanings, and even though I might not concentrate on the lyrics, some of them are blasphemous, and I truly don’t want to be associated with them.

In studying this Commandment, I surfed the internet for “celebrities that have committed blasphemy”, as I was going to provide some examples here. But it led me through so many rabbit holes and there were so many examples, I got lost in them all. I’ll urge you to examine this for yourself and simply suffice to say, one celebrity has a song with the actual title “I am a God” and has lyrics such as “Hurry up with my massage, I am a God”, and “When I am in France, I am a God, so hurry up with my croissant.”

Obviously, it is a celebrity that I’ve never listened, so it’s not a song I would hum or listen to. And obviously, if I saw the title, I would steer clear as far as I could get. But even some of the most loved songs are blasphemous if you study the lyrics, and since I haven’t studied the lyrics, I’ve just recited them, I feel it best if I just stay away.

But then again, even some modern day Christian rock music has been accused of blasphemy. And it’s easy to say, “What does it matter? God knows my heart.”, that is just a cop-out for excusing our own sin.

And one final definition, list by Merriam is “to no end : without success or result”. Think about that for a moment. If we openly claim to be Christians, even taking on the name as a Christian, but we do not act like Christians, would that not fit this definition?

“Taking the Lord’s name without acting like a Christian?” Wouldn’t that me “taking the Lord’s name in vain?”

What I’ve learned today is that we can not take Christianity lightly. It’s not something we can just throw around, “I’m born again”, “I’ve found Christ”. It’s a much higher responsibility than that. If we are going to assume the role of being a Christian, we must act like Christians.

We must believe in God, and more importantly, we must believe in Jesus; “I am the truth, the way, and the light. No one comes to the father without going through me.”

We must make every attempt to follow Jesus, for that is the meaning of the word “Christian”, one who follows Christ, and I don’t mean following Christ like you follow your favorite football team, you must act like Christ wants us to act.

“If you’ve seen Me, you’ve seen the Father”. Jesus Christ is God and God is Jesus, two parts of the trinity. If we act in the manner in which Jesus tells us, we will also act in the manner of how God tells us. The God of the Old Testament, I by the way, I hate that phrase, to me it says that God is not longer with us or is no longer valid. And that is the teachings of many churches today, “We’re not under the Old Testament, we’re under the New Testament.”

What was it that Jesus said, “I’ve come to fulfill the law.” Jesus didn’t come to replace the Ten Commandments, He came to teach the Ten Commandments, to live them, to show us how to live them.

Yes, it is important we not curse, period, let along curse using God’s name or even a derivative of. But is is also important we do not use God’s name in a blasphemous manner, or claim God’s name without being Godly, or claim Christ’s name without being a Christian.

Never forget, our lives are very much a part of the great battle between good and evil, between God and Satan. What may seem innocent is simply a tool of Satan to draw us away. And never forget, the Old Testament is still valid, and God is still valid.