What's So Special About God's Name?

          Over the past few weeks our students have been working through the Ten Commandments that God gave to Moses over 3,500 years ago.  There has been interesting discussion as we have wrestled with why the commandments are in the order they are, what they really mean, and how they apply to our lives today.

            

          This past week focused on the third commandment which states, “You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God” (Exodus 20:7).  As a child I recall my parents teaching me this commandment constantly particularly tied to moments when I lost my temper or became upset.  However, through the years I have often wondered that if this commandment is solely referencing not using God’s name is a negative way when I am angry, why is it number three on the list?  That seemed a little high to me and the fact is that I misunderstood the meaning behind this commandment. 

As I reviewed this commandment more in depth, I came to understand that it did not simply apply to times when I lost my temper but to something more.  This command actually teaches us that we are not to associate God’s name with anything that God is not associated with.   In other words we should not manipulate, abuse, or mishandle the name of God.  The clearest example that I can think of happening during my four years of undergraduate work at a small Christian college in Indiana was when I witnessed people in dating relationships play the “God Card.”

Here is what I mean by this:  The college I attended was small, to the point that everyone knew everyone else.  Which meant you knew about the dating lives of other people as well.  For four years we watched couples begin dating, fall in love, and then out of the blue break-up because “God told them to.”  I never understood this until one day when I had a conversation with a fellow student who had ended several relationships with the phrase, “God told me to break-up with you.”  During this conversation, he told me that he would date a girl until he got “bored” and then rather than try to find a reason to break-up with her, he would simply tell her that God told him to.  I struggled with this at the time for reasons that did not become apparent until a couple of years later.  I realized that this young man was misusing the name of God because he was using God as an excuse or “playing the God card.”  God had not told him to break-up with the girl, yet time after time we would see young ladies heartbroken because of this young man’s misuse of God’s name.  Years later, I now realize that God doesn’t want us to misuse, abuse, or manipulate His name but to regard it with the sacred and holy attention that it deserves.

Today, I would like to leave you with a question to consider about your relationship with God and to discuss with your students.  “On a scale of 1 to 10, how close to God would you say you are right now?”  As you wrestle with this question I challenge you to think about if you are trying to leverage God against Himself and what steps you could take more accurately align your use of the name of God with what God truly represents.  Our story with God started over 3,500 years ago when Moses had a conversation with God on the side of a mountain, in which God asked Moses one simple question, “Will you trust Me?”  We are given that same opportunity today as we remember “When you use the name of god to dodge the Will of God, you will ultimately miss out on God entirely.”