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Exodus 20.7
“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.”
Deuteronomy 5.11
“‘You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain.’”
We also take the Name of the Lord in vain when we take it for selfish reasons, as Simon the magician sought to do in Acts 8. Ananias and Sapphira also took the Lord’s Name in vain when they tried to gain notoriety as generous people in their offering to the Church in Acts 5.
We always need to be careful about our motives. In our “celebrity” culture it’s too easy to want to appear to be holy or generous or bold or spiritual in order to draw attention to ourselves. But God calls us to take His Name for the purpose of drawing attention to Him.
Whenever we try to use the Lord’s Name for our own advantage, we are taking His Name in vain.
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