January 7, 2005
Therefore the Lord said:
“Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths
And honor Me with their lips,
But have removed their hearts far from Me…”
-Isaiah 29:13
You can be inside the church and talk to God in vain. You don’t have to be in a bar to have your heart removed from Him. Think about it…how many times have you sang songs of praise to the Lord and had no meaning behind it? How many times have you worshipped the Lord through prayer and just used a bunch of words to get through it. Think of how many minds gather dust while the name of God is being worshipped.
We sing, “All to Jesus I surrender. All to Him I freely give,” and yet we spend the rest of the week trying to take back what we said we’d give Him. Or we sing songs like “Have thine own way, Lord…” and yet we make sure we have complete control of our own lives. Or we sing “Take my silver, take my gold, Not a mite will I withhold…” yet we hang on to it with everything we’ve got. These all break the rules according to the third commandment that says we should not take the Lord’s name in vain.
Jesus said in the New Testament, “When you pray, don’t use meaningless words and clichés and repetition and ritual, but pray from your heart.” Pray something that’s real. How many of you pray: “Lord, lead, guide, and direct us. Amen.” Pray from the heart. You don’t have to pray with the language of the Bible—just from your heart.
Perhaps the best thing we could all do right now is just bow our heads wherever we’re at and ask God to forgive us…because we’ve all called on God aimlessly with our hearts removed from the total worship of Him. In the New Testament, there was a couple in a church by the name of Ananias and Sapphira. They came in and tried to impress everybody, threw the name of God around, and said they were going to give something, but since they didn’t, God took them out. They died in church and were carried out.
I wonder how many of us would be alive if God took our breaking of the third commandment as an opportunity to show how serious He is about it. The name of the Lord is to be magnified, praised, and honored with your whole heart, mind, and soul. Do not let your heart become numb when worshipping the Lord.
LIVE THE NAME, LOVE THE NAME, AND LEAN ON THE NAME OF GOD.