TOP TEN LIFE HACKS
NAME Above All Names
Exodus 20:7
“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 (NIV)
William D. Eisenhower: Unfortunately, many of us presume that the world is the ultimate threat and that God’s function is to offset it. How different this is from the biblical position that God is far scarier than the world …. When we assume that the world is the ultimate threat, we give it unwarranted power, for in truth, the world’s threats are temporary. When we expect God to balance the stress of the world, we reduce him to the world’s equal …. As I walk with the Lord, I discover that God poses an ominous threat to my ego, but not to me. He rescues me from my delusions, so he may reveal the truth that sets me free. He casts me down, only to lift me up again. He sits in judgment of my sin, but forgives me nevertheless.
God’s Name Is to Be Revered
- USING GOD’S NAME WRONGLY:
- When we use God’s name disrespectfully and irreverently.
“revere this glorious and awesome name —the Lord your God” Deuteronomy 28:58 (NIV)
- When we use God’s name dishonestly.
They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny him. They are detestable, disobedient and unfit for doing anything good. Titus 1:16 (NIV)
- When we use God’s name casually or flippantly.
- When we worship him with our lips, but not with our hearts.
These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Isaiah 29:13 (NIV)
- When we pray to him, but do not believe in him.
John Calvin: “Wherefore it becomes us to regulate our minds and our tongues, so as never to think or speak of God and his mysteries without reverence and great soberness, and never, in estimating his works, to have any feeling towards him but one of deep veneration.”
John Gill: “The name of God ought never to be mentioned but in a grave and serious manner, and with an awe of the greatness of his majesty upon the mind.”
- USING GOD’S NAME RIGHTLY
- Say it with Reverence
Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; Psalms 29:2 (NIV)
- Say it with Integrity
Everyone who confesses the name of the Lord must turn away from wickedness. 2 Tim 2:19 (NIV)
- Say it with Conviction
In him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in his holy name. Psalms 33:21 (NIV)