“You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.” –Exodus 20:7

The name of YHWH was so holy to the Jewish people they never even spoke it.  When they would get to the name of God in scripture rather than say Yahweh, they would say, “Adonai”.  Casually using God’s name without any purpose, shows a low view of God.  How?  Because anyone or anything we love we don’t speak of flippantly. My boys are two of the most precious gifts to me and I don’t speak of them as a sidebar or as a curse word.  They are of utmost value so I speak their names as their names and not at a whim.

I was raised in a home where we couldn’t even say, “gosh,” “geez,” or “golly” those words my parents felt were to close to the name of God, I think they were/are right and I am grateful they instilled that fear of the Lord in me.  Long before I was a Christian when profane speech was part of my everyday vocabulary on the couple of occasions I took the Lord’s name in vain I felt a twinge of remorse and guilt…the Lord was using my upbringing to remind me that He was still Lord and that He was still there…even for me!