Discipline Your Tongue – The Kingdom Curriculum VII (7)

Discipline Your Tongue

“You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain…” Exodus 20:7; Deuteronomy 5:11

“You shall not swear by my name falsely, and so profane the name of your God: I am the LORD.” Leviticus 19:12

“And speak to the people of Israel, saying, Whoever curses his God shall bear his sin. Whoever blasphemes the name of the LORD shall surely be put to death. All the congregation shall stone him. The sojourner as well as the native, when he blasphemes the Name, shall be put to death.” Leviticus 24:15, 16

Get that tongue under control!

We’ve been looking at the third commandment and considering ways that we take the Lord’s Name in vain. Whenever our use of God’s Name does anything other than exalt Him, declare His truth, magnify His glory and honor, and encourage others to consider Him in all His majesty and might, we may be in danger of taking His Name in vain.

And it’s so easy to do! But take heart: if we can discipline our tongues to avoid what has become a commonplace in contemporary culture–taking God’s Name in vain–we can discipline them to praise and exalt Him, and the rest of our bodies to love the Lord and our neighbors according to the teaching of His Law.

Let us pray that God will guard our tongues. Let us hold one another accountable so that we do not use our mouths for vain things which dishonor God and injure or mislead others. Together we can help one another keep all the vows we have taken in God’s Name and speak of Him only in the most exalted and honoring of ways.

And let us together seek the Lord for boldness, that we might, with patience and loving kindness, confront and correct any who thoughtlessly take God’s Name in vain. This is our duty, and it will redound to their benefit and to God’s honor and glory if we take our duty seriously.

Get your copy of The Law of God today, and begin making meditation in God’s Law part of your daily discipline. Go to www.MyParuchia.com, point your browser to “Publications,” then click on the drop-down option, “Waxed Tablet Publications.”

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore.

T.M. Moore is editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001,2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Editor’s note: The use of a translation other than the Authorised Version in an article does not constitute an endorsement in whole or in part by The Christian Observer.