26 April 2006

III-We will not take the Lord our God's name in vain.

What is prayer? I have always believed prayer is our way of reaching up to the Lord to establish a direct communication with Him; an act of faith, that Someone is out there listening for our calls. That He will listen, and then respond.

When we attempt an act of communication with another, we use their name in hopes that the use of that name will direct their attention to us, and that others who may have heard the call will understand we were addressing someone specific-someone else, and ignore a call not meant for them. It's called privacy, amoung other things...

So. When we utter the name of God, we are using it to gain His attention. His, and His alone.

I've also always believed to merely utter the name of God is to commit an act of prayer. Faith leads us to understand that He knows completely the contents of our hearts, our souls; very often we are incapable of knowing precisely what is the nature of the need to reach out to Him-but He always knows. When we call out, He knows we are willing to open our hearts to his guidance. (God is great-He is not going to intrude, He prefers we ask Him.) Thus it follows that to use His name as an exclamation is probably not a good idea if we weren't asking for His assistance.

And, on the surface, to casually use His name to damn someone or something IS a violation of the Third. This should be patently clear.

However, I know there is more to the Third. His name is all encompassing. His name is love, mercy; His name is forgiveness. His name is everything. Therefore, to take His name in a request for assistance to bring down destruction and misfortune on someone else is to present one's own soul for judgement. You need to ask yourself-are you ready?

In other words, asking for His love and mercy while simultaneously asking Him to deny it to someone else may be the most dangerous of vanitites...

I truly believe all things WERE created by God, given the most precious gift of the right and freedom to choose, and I most certainly do believe in Intelligent Design.

(Interesting how that has become politically incorrect-another convenience for someone heavily invested in wiping faith out of the heart of Man. Why does it so terrify some that Someone is out there who is in charge; Someone who designed evolution, genetics, Man; Someone with our best interests as His driving force? I mean, this too should be a no-brainer! Who do you want to hang out with? The guy who wants to help you have and defend your freedom, or the guy who needs your cash to make his beamer payment??)

I believe He, through His Intelligent Design, made sure that you had a mind to go along with your heart. You should be able to take the lead I give, and through use of your mind, come up with some questions and answers for your self. Ones that hopefully will infuse you with the strength to choose for yourself a life that will up your self esteem, and help keep you from being a burden or a horror to others. One that will give you few if any regrets.

Today you should look up the word vanity and consider all the nuances as regards the Third Commandment.

Let's talk about it.

No comments:

Post a Comment

Regretfully I've had to update my blog to comment moderation to prevent spamming. LOL, if only the fools knew my blog is seen by a very small and select group-it might help them understand the waste of time it is to spam my blog! Oh well, it's not as though spammers are very bright, after all.