Ex 20:7 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain; for the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain.
We all think of this commandment as being applied to blaspheming; swearing or using the Lord’s name improperly. And while that is true, I think we need to understand the bigger picture.
When Diane married me, she chose to no longer be known by her maiden name; she took my name. Likewise, when we take the name of Jesus, our bridegroom, we are no longer Miss World… we are a Christian… a little Christ… Mrs. Christian. We are now identified with His name even though the wedding is yet to come, and we either honor it or defile it (taking it in vain) by everything we do.
That’s why it’s important to remember that we are baptized into His name and are publicly identified by it. Just as He was immediately targeted by Satan, so are we the moment we take His name (1 John 4:17). How we respond to his attacks reflects on Jesus’ name. Immediately after His victory over Satan, Jesus plunged into His ministry, and we are to do the same because the baptism of the Holy Spirit identified us with His ministry. And that was one of the main purposes the Lord had in mind for His bride; that we would “represent” Him here by bringing His Gospel and His love into a dying world. That is what Jesus meant when He said:
John 14:12 Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father.
These are the greater works we are to do in the spiritual realm: ministering the Gospel to those who the Spirit has drawn and sets before us. Leading that person from darkness into the light. That is a greater work because Jesus is not here to do it… we are. It’s a demonstration of His power that by being totally dependent upon Him we can have His full power working through us. We have been made a member of His body (His bride) so that He can work through us to minister as He ministered when He was here on earth. That’s our calling, and how we carry out that calling reflects directly on the One who has called us. And that’s our challenge.
When the enemy attacks, how are we responding? What does the world hear and see in what we say and do? Are we standing boldly before the world as His bride, or are we taking His name in vain? As His bride we don’t have an option! And thank God He baptized us with His Spirit, which includes His power to do even greater works. Works that we are doing in His name. And that requires us to stay close to His Spirit to make sure we aren’t taking His name in vain.
We are identified into Him and we have an obligation as Mrs. Christian to honor His name.