You would think we all loved and followed God all the time, because we hear his name constantly. Let Lexus come out with a new model, and people’s jaws drop as they exclaim, “Oh My God!” When one teen texts another with the latest whispers about the head cheerleader, the recipient responds immediately, “omg”. I have heard people shout, “By God, I’m not putting up with that,” when they really mean that they are personally offended. We have all heard someone tell a huge whopper and finish with the words, “As God is my witness.” God’s name is a constant presence in daily speech, but it is not often associated with blessings.

When I was growing up, if my mother spoke my name in the tone of voice people routinely use to speak God’s name, I knew she was not invoking a blessing. I doubt that God is confused, either. After all, someone who says, “By God, I’ll make him pay,” in a murderous rage is not praying, “we forgive those who trespass against us.” We know it. God knows it. Does it matter?

When God gave Moses the Ten Commandments, He wrote them all on two tablets of stone. The one about his name is the second in the list. God’s name is clearly important to God.

The Old Testament commandments instruct us to use God’s name respectfully, but we need to look at what Jesus said in order to understand fully what that means. Jesus taught that we can invoke God’s name all we want, but we can’t trick God when we misuse it. He said, “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven.” [Matthew 7:21] Jesus taught us good ways to use God’s name: love a little child in God’s name, give someone a cool drink in God’s name, pray for one another in God’s name, repent in God’s name and receive forgiveness, forsake personal gain in God’s name, baptize people in God’s name, and receive life in God’s name.

The truth is that God hopes we will speak his name often, but he never wants us to use it as if it were some magic word to get our own way or to hurt other people. God is love, and when we speak his name, we need to be speaking in love. 

That is how we show R-E-S-P-E-C-T for God’s name.l