(Note: The following article was written by one of the members at West Side, Tommy Davis. I commend it to you).
In our society God is being removed from our life as our Savior and replaced by using His name as merely a curse word or as a “cute” expression. Unfortunately, many who profess to be Christians are getting caught up in this as well. On some mainstream websites (Yahoo is one that comes to mind), there is a section called “OMG.” When you click on the link, it takes you to today’s newest Hollywood shocker. Most people in the younger generation will recognize this from texting as shorthand for oh my God. Other expressions like “gosh”, “jeez” and “golly”, are closely related. These offend me deeply, but more importantly, it offends God deeply.
God’s name will be holy. This is taught over and over throughout the Bible. Turn and read a short passage from Leviticus 24. The account is found in verses 10-23 especially 11-16. Here a man blasphemes the name of God in anger during a fight with another Israelite. How did God tell Moses to deal with it? “Take him outside the camp…and let all the congregation stone him….Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin. And whoever blasphemes the name of the Lord shall surely be put to death.” Leviticus 24:15-16. Do God and Jesus take blaspheming Their name lightly? It doesn’t seem like it does it? God is holy. “By those who come near Me I must be regarded as holy and before all the people I must be glorified.” Leviticus 10:3.
You may be thinking, “Yes but I don’t blaspheme God by saying these things. They are just expressions we use.” I challenge you to look up blaspheme in the dictionary. I did and found that it means “to speak of or address with irreverence.” Irreverence means “with a lack of reverence.” Exodus 19:7 tells us not to take the name of our Lord in vain. Vain means “of no real value.” Casual use of God’s name is blasphemy by this definition!
Using God’s name in a playful way undermines His holiness, His Majesty, His glory and His greatness. The Bible tells that He is the King of kings and the Lord of lords; there is none like Him, no not one. Does saying “oh my God”, “golly” or “jeez” at a mundane event really tell the world what we think of our Lord? It does. It shows that we don’t view Him as He truly is – our supreme Creator and the Savior of man; worthy of all praise and adoration. I hope that the next time we are tempted to fit in with our friends, we will choose to be different than the world and choose to revere God “with all our heart, with all our soul and with all our mind”… including all our words.
Tommy Davis
