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I Peter 2.9-10

As Jesus followers, God chooses us to represent him.  We don’t have the luxury of not representing him when we chose to accept the gift of salvation offered in Christ. How we behave is always communicating a message about God—either good or bad. Pastor Brad Gray talks about the following three questions: “What message are we communicating?” “What message would we like to be communicating?” “Is there a gap?”

Communication “gaps” exist when we aren’t representing God well. Command three in Exodus 20:7 tells us to mind the way we use God’s name.  Expletives, God-nicknames and swearing an oath by the name of God are destructive to our relationship with him and to the image of God others see in us.  This is difficult for a lot of us when we find ourselves in an environment where abusing God’s name is the norm.

The bottom line is we are representatives of God’s name to the world.  If that sounds heavy—it is.  But God doesn’t ask us to bear it alone.  By the power of his Holy Spirit who resides in us, we can receive his help for anything he asks us to do (1 John 5.14-15) and that includes not abusing his name. In your Chair Time today, identify your communication gaps and ask God for his help.