It is becoming the time of year when I get busy! I'm not able to post as often, but I am still checking in on my favorite bloggers.
My last post on swearing stopped short because long blogs are a turn off for some. The gist of that post is a loss of reverence for the Name of God. For the Jews, His Name was too sacred to be heard outside the holiest courts of the temple. We see in Sacred Scripture where Christ's Name hurled demons from their victims. Today His Name still holds our hope and His Holy Spirit embodies all that is Holy! How many times have we heard "holy" in front of "unholy" words?
On page 26 of this booklet, I read "Whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name," He promised, "that will I do." This is the authority of Jesus.
Further, His name ... strong enough in its utterance to open the gates of heaven and to touch the very heart of the eternal Father. (Now that's what I call power!!!)
No wonder the Apostles began to preach and work miracles, "in His name."
How profound do you find the next paragraph? It would be interesting to know just how the Holy Name of Jesus Christ came to pass from this glorious and powerful invocation to the casual, contemptuous, and sinful use current in the world today. A dreadful sort of parody on prayer seems to be involved in the distortion. It is as if a brilliant enemy of Christ had taken the name of the Savior and twisted it to the most frivolous and debased uses.
Soon, quite too soon the Holy Name became the common "curse" word of men and women who hated Christ, no longer believed in Him, or regarded Him as of no importance. And so it has remained to this day.
Originally the Holy Name was meant to be used to work miracles of grace upon the world. It was a name for blessings. It was the name that rang with the certain hope of God's loving bounty and protection.
It looks like Part 2 will not be the end of this subject. For myself, I feel like reflecting on the above words from this little booklet. Words have power to heal and to hurt. Even the seemingly innocent "gee" used in the show Leave it to Beaver referred to the big "G" of God. I know I need to stop and think of the use of God's name, even in saying "Oh my God." It seems harmless, but I'm saying His Holy Name without thought and without meaning. Our Lord deserves so much more than my careless and thoughtless use of His Name. He suffered out of a great love for us, and we should remember this always!
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Our Almighty Father, our Precious Jesus and our Most Holy Spirit, thank you for knowing each of our names and lovingly calling us by our names. Help us to realize when we are thoughtless, and help us to bring others back to the Power of Your Name and and the Name of Your Love. Amen
My last post on swearing stopped short because long blogs are a turn off for some. The gist of that post is a loss of reverence for the Name of God. For the Jews, His Name was too sacred to be heard outside the holiest courts of the temple. We see in Sacred Scripture where Christ's Name hurled demons from their victims. Today His Name still holds our hope and His Holy Spirit embodies all that is Holy! How many times have we heard "holy" in front of "unholy" words?
On page 26 of this booklet, I read "Whatsoever you shall ask the Father in my name," He promised, "that will I do." This is the authority of Jesus.
Further, His name ... strong enough in its utterance to open the gates of heaven and to touch the very heart of the eternal Father. (Now that's what I call power!!!)
No wonder the Apostles began to preach and work miracles, "in His name."
How profound do you find the next paragraph? It would be interesting to know just how the Holy Name of Jesus Christ came to pass from this glorious and powerful invocation to the casual, contemptuous, and sinful use current in the world today. A dreadful sort of parody on prayer seems to be involved in the distortion. It is as if a brilliant enemy of Christ had taken the name of the Savior and twisted it to the most frivolous and debased uses.
Soon, quite too soon the Holy Name became the common "curse" word of men and women who hated Christ, no longer believed in Him, or regarded Him as of no importance. And so it has remained to this day.
Originally the Holy Name was meant to be used to work miracles of grace upon the world. It was a name for blessings. It was the name that rang with the certain hope of God's loving bounty and protection.
It looks like Part 2 will not be the end of this subject. For myself, I feel like reflecting on the above words from this little booklet. Words have power to heal and to hurt. Even the seemingly innocent "gee" used in the show Leave it to Beaver referred to the big "G" of God. I know I need to stop and think of the use of God's name, even in saying "Oh my God." It seems harmless, but I'm saying His Holy Name without thought and without meaning. Our Lord deserves so much more than my careless and thoughtless use of His Name. He suffered out of a great love for us, and we should remember this always!
---------------------------
Our Almighty Father, our Precious Jesus and our Most Holy Spirit, thank you for knowing each of our names and lovingly calling us by our names. Help us to realize when we are thoughtless, and help us to bring others back to the Power of Your Name and and the Name of Your Love. Amen
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4 comments:
"...regard him of no importance." I think that is where most people who use Jesus' name to swear or as a casual expletive seem to be, and in some ways that may be worse than those who use it out of hate. I just keep thinking about what Jesus said about being lukewarm.
Thanks for this thought provoking post.
Hugs and Blessings.
Good point Karinann. That is one of the reasons I enjoy blogging, because someone always has good thoughts, I never think about! Thank you!
Colleen, After this post, I found myself doing the same thing. I counted three times. It's hard to stop!
The holy + curse combination is indeed odd. I wonder how all this got started. After all, nonbelievers use this kind of cursing -- why are they using the name of God or Jesus if they don't believe? That part has always been confusing to me. (When I was an atheist, I had very different expressions that I used; nothing of a holy nature, but I think I was probably somewhat unique, given what I hear around me.) Interesting posts.
Elizabeth, I think you were unique. That is a good question. I had an instructor who used to say, "Where do unbelievers get the idea of a God to deny?" I guess they would say believers, I don't know. Thank you for visiting.
On my way Colleen!
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