Profanity ain’t what it used to be—it’s much worse. There was a day when you just didn’t say certain words; never in public and you do well not to even utter them in private. Especially verboten were words that cursed—showed impiety, irreverence and/or hostility to—God’s name. That day is long gone in our culture. Sadly, even among some believers bad words aren’t so bad anymore. Does God care any less today that his name be sanctified than he did when he gave laws and regulations about honoring it? I think not. His name is still holy, and last time I checked, “thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain” is still in the Ten Commandments.
The Journey // Focus: Leviticus 22:32-33
Do not profane my holy name, for I must be acknowledged as holy by the Israelites. I am the Lord, who made you holy and who brought you out of Egypt to be your God. I am the Lord.
Profanity ain’t what it used to be—it’s much worse. There was a day when you just didn’t say certain words; never in public and you do well not to even utter them in private. Especially verboten were words that cursed—showed impiety, irreverence and/or hostility to—God’s name.
That day is long gone in American culture. Sadly, I think even among believers bad words aren’t so bad anymore.
Does God care any less today that his name be sanctified among the people than he did when he gave laws and regulations about honoring it? I think not. His name is still holy, and last time I checked, “thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain” is still in the Ten Commandments. Just because we rarely use the King James English to quote the Third Commandment, and just because God’s name is quoted as profanity, early and often, by those who disregard him, doesn’t mean God turns a blind eye.
While the immediate ramifications of profaning his name are not as visible and immediate today as they were when Exodus and Leviticus were written, the day will come—as in, the Day of the Lord—when every knee will bow and every tongue confess the name as holy. Every knee will bow and every tongue will confess—whether in loving worship or in forced acknowledgement. That day is coming when once again the people of God, along with the whole realm of creation, will know that God holds his name as holy.
Now let me just be clear at this point that Leviticus 22 is sort of a summation of the whole thought of holiness. God is holy, there are ways to approach him in holiness that he requires, and he desires—no, demands—that his people be holy. This chapter is not speaking narrowly about using the Lord’s name to curse, it is about disobedience to his law as profaning his name. And that is serious business. But this general admonition also has some very specific applications for the people of God—as in profaning his name by the speech we use.
God cares about his name! Why? Among other reason, his name represents his identity—who he is, his character, namely, his complete holiness. It also represents his authority—the right to do what he wishes to do: create, rule, heal, deliver, provide, etc. Many names are given in the Old Testament that describe his authority, e.g., Yaweh Jireh, the God who provides, etc. His name is also one and the same with his power. That is why we are called to pray in his name:
Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete. (John 16:24
For many reasons, God cares a great deal about his name being honored. And we should, too. And while I am not suggesting that we correct everybody that misuses it—that would be a full time, 24/7 job, these days, I am suggesting that those who are called by his name take great care how they use it. We are not to utter it as a swear word in an angry outburst, it must not spew forth uncontrollably from our lips when we stub our toe at night or smash our finger with a hammer, we should not use it as an exclamation in our excitement or even as a punctuation mark in our praying.
If we truly are to honor his name as holy and avoid profaning it, it is time that we return to a day that we now label as old fashion and outdated in order to recapture some of the reverence for his name that our parents, grandparents and Old Testament progenitors had.
Perhaps we should even consider breaking the habit of even uttering those seemingly harmless substitutes for God’s name—you know, “gosh darn” or “gee wiz” or, well, you get my drift.
My name is holy, so do not bring shame on it, the Lord declares.
Interestingly, Leviticus 22 begins and ends with the same demand from God: My name is holy, so do not profane it. So serious was God about his holy name that when either priest of people profaned it, either in a small matter or a large one, in an accidental way or flat-out deliberately, the violator was to be cut off from God and his people—either by deportation or by death. I would say that is pretty serious business!
Honestly, you and I would have been deported long ago from God’s presence for violating his holy name. Thank God for Jesus, the perfect sacrifice for our sin, through whom our lips are morphed from a mouthpiece of the profane to an instrument of praise. Now in gratitude for our salvation, the words of our mouth should pour forth continuous praise—not as a merit for salvation, but as a mark of it.
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