Oh my God

You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God...
-Deuteronomy 5:11

​Let's do a little light theology today. It's relevant to our world, but also necessary for my emotional sanity. 

We didn't use the phrase "Oh my God" in my household growing up. I'm still not a particular fan of it, especially when used as a filler without thinking. It's not offensive to me, but if it's just placeholder expression when not actually thinking about connection to God, for me that's kind of meh. That said, there have been plenty of legitimate oh my God moments lately, where yes, I've actually seen something that makes me utter an immediate prayer. 

Regardless of all that, what I did hear a lot from my friends and the Christian culture I grew up in was that saying "Oh my God" was what God meant when Moses came down from Mt. Sinai with the stone tablets. You know the one—commandment three, where it most famously reads: you shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain. There were a few other PG-13 phrases invoking God's name that fit into that category too.

Now, Jesus both simplified and encompassed all these commandments when he said that the greatest commandment is to love God with everything you’ve got, and then to love your neighbor like yourself (see Matthew 22). When we do that, it covers everything. This is very true. Yet the commandments given to Moses on Mt. Sinai still have real value for understanding God’s heart, especially if we dig in a little. 

So, back to the task at hand. 
It wasn’t until a Hebrew class in college that I finally started to understand what this whole commandment was getting at and why it’s far more important than simply avoiding a few choice phrases. 

In Hebrew, a name represented one's character (i.e., Proverbs 22:1: A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches). Even the way that Moses names God in Exodus 34 gives us a hint: "The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love…” You see how proclaiming God's name is directly connected to God's very character? 

So then, to take one’s name is to be connected with their story and their character. Much like an ambassador of a country takes the name of their native land and represents its ideals to another land, Christians do the same to the world. So using a name is not about a phrase as much as an embodiment. Therefore, misusing God’s name isn't about words, but about how your life reflects the character that your name upholds. 
Add that to some basic Hebrew language work: nasaʾ (“take”) literally means to carry or to bear. And shav (“vain”) means emptiness or falsehood. 

Literally, this is the command we get: 
Don't carry God's name with a character that doesn't match it.

When we break it down, this commandment is a warning about claiming a faith identity, but misrepresenting God’s character with our lives. 
There's an important reason for this command, and it lines up with Jesus' teaching above. When we claim the name of Jesus in word or identity but do not resemble the clear character of God that Jesus reveals, it inevitably does immense harm to our neighbors, and it makes it infinitely harder for people to encounter the beauty of life in Jesus. Yes, we can genuinely hurt God's reputation. It does lasting damage. Thousands are distancing themselves from Christianity right now because they (rightly) feel that much of it looks like the opposite of what Jesus said and did. 

Lately, I've seen and heard things from prominent leaders and others who explicitly claim to be Christ-followers and thought... "that's totally taking the Lord's name in vain."
But it’s easy to throw stones and bypass where this touches our own internal lives, so let's check ourselves here. 
Every time Christians come across as hateful, uncaring, or arrogant toward our neighbors, we are taking the Lord’s name in vain. 
Every time Christians use the Bible to reinforce our own agenda instead of humbly learning and imitating the priorities of Jesus, we bear the reputation of God falsely. 
Every time Christians act in self-interest while ignoring the fact that many are suffering around us, we are being dishonest about God’s character. 

I know that in my own anger and frustration about others who take God's name in vain, there's always a temptation to lose my own integrity and bear God's character falsely in my own way. The calling is there for all of us to constantly search our own motivations and actions to make sure that we are seeking to consistently embody the character of Jesus in every situation. That means that we emulate a God who is slow to anger, who loves even one's own enemies, and who treats every life as sacred. 

I write this today to invite us to be people of truth. We must continue to call out when those in power use the name of the Lord without integrity (like claiming Bible verses about peace while escalating violence) AND we must keep our own commitment to live faithful actions of love, hospitality, and mercy.

We won't do it perfectly, and that's ok. The point is honoring God through integrity and character.  
If we are intended to be the Body of Christ, then it's of paramount importance that we do not practice that identity with falsehood. What an opportunity—that can we affect the mental image of God that people get when they think about Jesus and his followers—as we walk in love. 
May your life today help people know that God is like Jesus.  

Renew my heart again today, Jesus. 

Peace,
Keith ​