While communing with the cowboys in Colorado this weekend, I found some of their comments interesting. They were very insistent that I understand and embrace the notion that, although they were members of no particular faith, that they first bore me no ill will for being one and second were true believers in God. They based this argument on the notion that they do not curse in God's name.
Far too many people take God's name in vain. This goes far beyond cursing and swearing, although that is normally how that is interpreted. I think it begins there and goes far beyond, with people who call themselves Christians or "god-fearing men" without any intention to act upon what He commands. Far too many people go through the motions of faith without intending or planning to act according to what their God teaches. Consequently, they are far worse off than their fellows who do not believe in a God and do not follow one. These people believe in a God but defy Him! They are in open rebellion against Deity.
Many people share our Faith on paper but do not have Christ written in their hearts. They go through the motions, thinking that appearing to be a Christian makes you one of His disciples as if sitting in a garage would make you a car. What really matters is what we have done with His name. We all bear a name, and when we take upon us the name of Christ, we covenant to stand as witnesses of Christ at all times and in all places where we find ourselves. How much do our actions back up our rhetoric? It makes very good sense to me when people doubt our faith because our actions frequently run contrary to the things we preach. Everything we do, for good or for ill, we do with His name written on our heads, and the degree to which we are true to the name we bear brings either shame or honor to the God we allegedly fear and follow.
Do our lives testify of Christ? Do our lives invite people to come to Christ? Do our actions contribute to an atmosphere in which Christ would feel comfortable and welcome? If not, He invites us to repent and align ourselves more fully with that more perfect way.
We are prone as humans to focus on the larger things in life rather than what we consider to be minutia of mortality. My father told a story at church this Sunday of a man his cousin knows who is serving time in a state penitentiary. This man attributes his current course to what he calls SUDS: Seemingly Unimportant Decisions. Just as great edifices and terrible weapons and even furniture from IKEA are build step by step of smaller pieces, the run of our life is made daily by virtue of the things in which we decide to invest our time and talents. Wrote the poet: "To each is given a set of rules, the will to build and a book of rules, and each must make ere life is flown a stumbling block or a stepping stone".
It is good to not curse in the name of God. It is better to take on His name actually intending to follow Him. Otherwise, I think we are just as guilty of breaking this commandment, having taken God's name in vain. If that is the case in your life, as it has been betimes in mine, the good thing is not only that God invites us to repent but also that it can be efficacious in our lives and make both bad men good and good men better.
No comments:
Post a Comment