Where We Miss the Mark

Thank you to all who chimed in with topics we could discuss. There were some excellent ideas, and I'm excited to do some research and bring some of those things to you in the next few days.

I'm going to switch around the order a little, and start with the topic I promised I would get to - as a follow up to the post about "rules" we tend to treat as biblical, when in fact they are simply tradition or preference.

But as we all realize, there's another side to the proverbial coin. As important as mentioning when we have added rules, it's equally important to bring up the rules that we don't take seriously.

You know. The ones we snicker at. The ones we giggle behind our hands and act like they are cute or sassy, or the ways we really act like God got it wrong and we've decided that this or that command he gave doesn't apply to us. The Bible defines sin as "missing the mark." So we'll look at the ways we've been missing God's mark in favor of our own.

This is a hard post to write. Because admitting it surely puts me on the spot to do something about it in my own life and heart. Reading it will do the same for you, so if you prefer to remain ignorant, you may want to skip this.

Seriously. I'm about to start. Skedaddle if you're not into changing behavior.

I almost skedaddled too. Then I remembered I'm the writer.

There are lots of possibilities. But I chose three to talk about today. Two of them are very convicting for me. The first one is a pet peeve of mine that will be easier to talk about so I'll start with that one.

1.Disrespecting God's name. I grew up being taught that you should even capitalize the pronouns when referring to God. Jews don't write his name completely, leaving the "o" out and replacing it with a -, because they do not want to be in a situation where they might have to erase God's name. They also refrain from speaking it. Over and over in the old and new testaments, God reminds us that his name is powerful. Pray in it, and see miracles. Speak in it and you've given what you're about to say quite an introduction.

So how exactly do you disrespect a name? This culture doesn't take names too seriously. When you ask someone why they named their child whatever they named them, they usually say "because I liked how it sounded." Names mean something to God. He thinks through what he names people. He has hundreds of names for himself in the Word. Revelation says our name is written in his book of life when we put our trust in Christ and choose to make him our Lord.

Exodus 20:7 says "You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name." This seems pretty clear cut. Use it the right way or don't use it at all.

So how do we misuse God's name? It's interesting that in order for a movie to be rated "R" it has to use expletives that are considered particularly coarse by the culture, but misusing God's name is perfectly acceptable on educational pre-school cartoons. To me, the most shocking words you could use are not the ones that make my skin crawl.

Try these on for size. "Oh my God," "Oh my Lord," "Jesus Christ," "Holy [insert just about anything]," "Jesus," "God," "God Almighty," "God in heaven." We hear these A LOT and not just in church listening to the preacher pray. They are purely and simply "misusing God's name" and according to Exodus 20:7, users incur guilt.

Let's take it a step further. We have sanitized versions of the above, that even most Christians don't think twice about using. What about "Oh my Gosh," "Golly," "Lordy," "Geez," "Gee," "Oh my goodness," (I am guilty of that one, so I suppose I have some work to do on my own language as well.) There's also curse words that we use that don't take God's Word seriously, and are therefore a misuse of his words. "Damn it," (or "darn,") "What the hell," (or "heck,") "God Damn" or ("Gosh darn,") or even "Awesome," (I overdo this one) or "Amazing."

What's left to say? You ask. I ask. Well, maybe the point is, don't say anything. The Bible says "Let your yes be yes and your no be no." Probably a good idea. Not probably.

WHEW! Quotation overload. Now that we are all appropriately convicted, let's move on.

2. Gluttony (or self-indulgence). We all think immediately and only of food when we hear the word "gluttony." It is certainly enough to convict me. But there is a bigger principle involved. Our country is (WE are) excessive to the extreme in all the wrong places. We never get hungry because we are always eating. We overdose on entertainment, on sweets, on clothes, on possessions and call it being "blessed." You and I both know that when we want something, we usually get it.

The Bible says that anything we try to fill ourselves up with that isn't Jesus is going to give us problems. (For study, read Genesis 25:30-34, Numbers 11, Hebrews 12:16-17, Exodus 16:20, 21, 27, Proverbs 23:2, Daniel 5. John 4:10, Ephesians 5:15-18,James 5:5) So in order to prevent us from knowing the apathetic, lifeless, sluggish existence that comes from overdoing anything, God told us to only overdo him. Only be passionate about Christ. Only let the Spirit consume you, because if you let anything temporary replace him, you regret it.

In short - we were created to thrive on worshipping and loving God, to give him glory. If we worship or love anything else in that same way we have missed the mark and not done what is best for ourselves or him.

3. Judging. We call it other things. "Concern for." ("I'm concerned for so-and-so because of what I think they did or said or thought, so we better pray for them.) Basically, sanitized gossip. God has strong words for judgmental Christians in Romans 14. Seriously, read it. Right now. I did, and I immediately thought about all the ways I do not obey. Matthew 18 gives us the only exception. If a fellow believer SINS AGAINST YOU. And even then, the first step is to talk about it openly between only that person and yourself. Only in cases of extreme rebellion and sinfulness are issues to be brought up with anyone else.

That's incredibly convicting. I guess I've got some work to do inside.

Well, enough conviction for one day, I say! If you've got it all together in these areas, congratulations! If not, leave a comment and let me know we're on the same page and we'll keep each other accountable.

Next I'll be tackling the topic of entertainment and what God has to say about it. If I tried to do it here I'd have one of those REEEAALLY long posts and nobody likes a long winded blogger.

So until next time!