The Lord's Name

I heard a radio preacher last night talking about the Ten Commandments. He was speaking on the 3rd commandment - "You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain." (Exodus 20:7)

I've always thought of this more as the anti-profanity rule. Don't use God's name to damn people or things; don't use God or Jesus as any type of expletive; don't use OMG - all those casual, careless uses of the names God or Jesus. Last night this man spoke of carrying the name of God but living a life of hypocrisy. I had never thought of that as taking the Lord's name in vain.

There is a difference between being a Christian who sins and being a sinful Christian. Because we are human, we will sin, even when we belong to Christ. We will be angry or rude or unjust or unforgiving or lie or prideful or something just because we are still imperfect people in an imperfect world. We should, however, feel the conviction of the Holy Spirit and confess any sin immediately.

That is different from claiming to belong to Christ and openly living a life of sin, with no desire to admit to or confess sin or to leave that lifestyle we're living. I once walked the road of the prodigal daughter and it was many years before I submitted to the conviction of sin and sought forgiveness. During that time, I would have told anyone that I was a Christian because I was. I even went to church periodically; I just didn't have any use for God and His rules.

It's been 28 years since my relationship with God was restored but I am just now asking for forgiveness for this specific sin in my life. God has forgiven me so much and my life has been blessed by Him over and over so some might wonder why I need to confess this now. I need to because I just became aware of the sin. I believe it is important for me to confess specific sins when I recognize them so God and I can agree that it was sin and that I am forgiven. Then I don't have to dwell on it any more.