3rd Commandments as a Love Letter...
As we continue to look at each of the 10 commandments as Love Letter,
The 3rd commandment requires a little more unpacking,
A little more stretching of the imagination,
To see the broader context of the situation,
Then we can start to see God's heart around it.
Imagine a rowdy group of Israelites,
2 million of them,
Who spent 400+ years in Egypt,
Plenty of time to forget the Hebrew ways of respecting God.
Totally immersed in Egyptian false gods and idolatry,
They adopted Egyptian morals, habits, gods and language,
They spoke as the Egyptians spoke,
The cursed as the Egyptians cursed.
Perhaps the Egyptians used the name of their gods in vain,
Perhaps as a curse word,
Perhaps as an insult,
Perhaps flippantly,
And the Israelites followed the ways of the Egyptians.
I wonder how bad it was?
It must have been BAD,
Because God had to make a THIRD commandment out of it.
Back to the analogy of the groom and bride,
Where God is the groom and Israelites is the bride.
The groom comes from a healthy, wealthy, loving home,
The bride, a life-long prostitute, comes from a broken, violent and dysfunctional home.
Her habits are crude, ugly and harmful,
She doesn't know any better,
But the husband is madly in love with her and wants to show her how to have a healthy, loving relationship.
One thing He noticed is,
She is very crude in the way she speaks to him and addresses him.
She cusses when talking about him,
And easily insults and degrades him without batting an eye.
This comes from generations of dysfunction in the family,
And the groom understands that and doesn't hold it against her,
But he wants to teach her a better way to love,
So he writes this 3rd Love Letter...
10 Commandment Law #3:
"You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name."
Why is this so important?
What's in a name?
God is all about relationship,
All these laws are to protect relationship.
The way you speak about someone or to someone,
Reflects the way you feel about them,
Think about them,
And hold them in your heart.
"For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks."
If you're using someone's name as a curse word,
Or throw it around flippantly as a punch line,
Especially someone who is our God and creator,
It doesn't exactly scream respect and honor.
Which is necessary for a healthy relationship,
Especially between a bride and groom.
So perhaps God's heart carried a message like this...
"My Dearest Love,
You're my heart's desire and the apple of my eye.
When I speak of you it is always with love and affection,
When I think of you it is always with joy and happiness,
But when I hear you speak of Me,
It breaks my heart to hear you misuse my name,
It pains me to hear you toss it around in vain.
Don't you know that my name is holy and mighty?
Don't you know that my name protects you?
Don't you know that when you misuse it, it separates you from me?
When you stray, the path leads to death,
And I have given you EVERYTHING so that you can LIVE eternally,
Choose LIFE, not death, my love,
LIVE under the protection of my name,
Stay close to me and LIVE.
I love you,
I love you,
I love you,
My heart's desire is to love you FOREVER more."
All God wants is our affection.
The way we use His name matters.
"Do everything in LOVE."
"Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank You for covering me in Your holy Son's name,
Thank You for giving up EVERYTHING so that I can LIVE,
Thank You for loving a hot mess like me.
I don't even know how to love You,
Yet You gave Your Son's life for me,
I'm so unworthy,
And yet so grateful for Your grace and mercy.
Help me get to know You more,
Help me understand what delights You,
Help me understand what grieves You.
Draw me closer to You,
Make me more like You each day,
Come Lord, come!
In Jesus name, Amen."
Cheers to living under the protection of God's holy name!
The 3rd commandment requires a little more unpacking,
A little more stretching of the imagination,
To see the broader context of the situation,
Then we can start to see God's heart around it.
Imagine a rowdy group of Israelites,
2 million of them,
Who spent 400+ years in Egypt,
Plenty of time to forget the Hebrew ways of respecting God.
Totally immersed in Egyptian false gods and idolatry,
They adopted Egyptian morals, habits, gods and language,
They spoke as the Egyptians spoke,
The cursed as the Egyptians cursed.
Perhaps the Egyptians used the name of their gods in vain,
Perhaps as a curse word,
Perhaps as an insult,
Perhaps flippantly,
And the Israelites followed the ways of the Egyptians.
I wonder how bad it was?
It must have been BAD,
Because God had to make a THIRD commandment out of it.
Back to the analogy of the groom and bride,
Where God is the groom and Israelites is the bride.
The groom comes from a healthy, wealthy, loving home,
The bride, a life-long prostitute, comes from a broken, violent and dysfunctional home.
Her habits are crude, ugly and harmful,
She doesn't know any better,
But the husband is madly in love with her and wants to show her how to have a healthy, loving relationship.
One thing He noticed is,
She is very crude in the way she speaks to him and addresses him.
She cusses when talking about him,
And easily insults and degrades him without batting an eye.
This comes from generations of dysfunction in the family,
And the groom understands that and doesn't hold it against her,
But he wants to teach her a better way to love,
So he writes this 3rd Love Letter...
10 Commandment Law #3:
"You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name."
Why is this so important?
What's in a name?
God is all about relationship,
All these laws are to protect relationship.
The way you speak about someone or to someone,
Reflects the way you feel about them,
Think about them,
And hold them in your heart.
"For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks."
If you're using someone's name as a curse word,
Or throw it around flippantly as a punch line,
Especially someone who is our God and creator,
It doesn't exactly scream respect and honor.
Which is necessary for a healthy relationship,
Especially between a bride and groom.
So perhaps God's heart carried a message like this...
"My Dearest Love,
You're my heart's desire and the apple of my eye.
When I speak of you it is always with love and affection,
When I think of you it is always with joy and happiness,
But when I hear you speak of Me,
It breaks my heart to hear you misuse my name,
It pains me to hear you toss it around in vain.
Don't you know that my name is holy and mighty?
Don't you know that my name protects you?
Don't you know that when you misuse it, it separates you from me?
When you stray, the path leads to death,
And I have given you EVERYTHING so that you can LIVE eternally,
Choose LIFE, not death, my love,
LIVE under the protection of my name,
Stay close to me and LIVE.
I love you,
I love you,
I love you,
My heart's desire is to love you FOREVER more."
All God wants is our affection.
The way we use His name matters.
"Do everything in LOVE."
"Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank You for covering me in Your holy Son's name,
Thank You for giving up EVERYTHING so that I can LIVE,
Thank You for loving a hot mess like me.
I don't even know how to love You,
Yet You gave Your Son's life for me,
I'm so unworthy,
And yet so grateful for Your grace and mercy.
Help me get to know You more,
Help me understand what delights You,
Help me understand what grieves You.
Draw me closer to You,
Make me more like You each day,
Come Lord, come!
In Jesus name, Amen."
Cheers to living under the protection of God's holy name!
