Why is it so hard in some situations but not others to correct someone when they take the Lord’s name in vain? Sometime back Leslie was wearing a pair of fuzzy knitted socks, which were great for inside the house, but treacherous on the stairs. With only three steps to go before she reached the foyer both feet slipped out from under her and she landed with a corner of the stairs poking into her back. Sliding the down the remaining stairs, she twisted around and came to rest face down at the bottom. For a few seconds she didn’t say anything and then her groans of pain mixed with my thoughts about whether or not to call an ambulance. When she finally caught her breath, she was able to swear. I wasn’t about to interrupt her words of anguish…that is until she took the Lord’s name in vain. I tried to lasso her words and said, “Lord, she doesn’t mean that…She doesn’t know what she’s saying.” With her face still buried in the rug and sharp pain stabbing her in the back, she threatened, “Do not make me laugh…I’m dying here!”
1 comment:
Gail;
-----Last night my daughter was telling me about one of her community service experiences. The supervisor was a local preacher. Understanding that a young person not totally enamored with attending worship services is going to see through biased eyes, I still had to take note of her complaints about this supervisor’s cursing and belligerent demeanor. I knew her observations were not entirely imaginary, though they may have been embellished. Yet I pictured how nicely he probably wore the name of Jesus in the pulpit on Sunday morning after breathing foulness at his underlings all week long. I know another preacher, whom I admire very deeply, whom I have heard behaves quite dictatorial and abusively at home. And I was a bit tickled one morning to hear an elder comfortably drop the f-word into mid-sentence while waiting for class-time to begin. They called themselves Christians first at Antioch, some one thousand nine hundred seventy five or so years ago. From then to now we’ve taken our Lord’s name.
-----We love to talk about the onion that peels away, always having another layer for exposure. We are quick to point out that “God isn’t finished with me yet“. And these are Biblical concepts. For “...we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into His likeness from one degree of glory to another...” (II Cor 3:18) If we are changing into glory by degrees, we are also changing out of shame only by degrees, even though Paul also wrote, “...if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, behold the new has come,” (II Cor 5:17) So his reference to the new having come is certainly not to some instantaneous perfection of behavior, emotions, attitudes, and thoughts while we still live in this world. John agrees. “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. “ (I John 1:8) We do not become perfect in ourselves until we are admitted into His presence by death or rapture.
-----Until then we must live in this condition where we do some things right, and we goof out some wrong, too. If I accept my goofing as a natural condition of being human, making as if it doesn’t matter, I take His name in vain. If I ignore my goofing as if it doesn’t exist, I take His name in vain. Surely the way is narrow. John went on to write, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just, and will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (I John 1:9) It doesn’t shock me to hear a believer, or anyone else, use His name in profanity. It shocks me to see believers mistreat others and abuse the Word with no twinge of conscience. His name is more than a pattern of vibrations generated by vocal chords. So to avoid taking it in vain I must admit the unpeeled layers of onion are unpeeled by my lack of responsibility, and the shame unchanged into glory finds shelter in my own spiritual slothfulness. I alone must own the viability of my dead man. Such admission I consider to be a confession so that maybe my acceptance of His name might apply to the small part of me changed into glory by His Spirit and might be more meaningful than vain.
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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