Bringing Shame on God's Holy Name

 Here in the United States we do not live in a shame and honor culture like they have in the Middle East, which includes the Holy Land. We talk about people who are ashamed because they did something illegal or unethical, but mostly we think about whether people do right or wrong, good or bad deeds. However, in a shame and honor culture the worst thing a person can do is to bring shame on his or her name or on his or her family's name. We need to keep that in mind when we read the Bible.

God warned the people of Israel very strongly about this sin when it came to His name. (Leviticus 22:32) He commanded them not to bring shame on His holy name, because He would display His holiness among the people. He said this as the Lord who made them holy. I believe this is still a huge problem with believers today, and we need to think about how we may be bringing shame on God's holy name.

One of the 10 Commandments deals with this sin. It commands us not to take the Lord's name in vain. I think there are a lot of believers that think that only means not to use the word "God" as a cuss word. Yes that does bring shame on God's name, but it goes much farther than that. If we say "Jesus" just to express our displeasure with something, we are not really addressing Him in an honorable way. If we refer to God in a flippant way, we are not honoring Him either. We must only refer to God and Jesus when we are meaning to bring attention to the Holy God and reverence Him.

Also, if we act in a very sinful way, and we copy the ways of this world, we are bringing shame on our Father. When people see a believer speaking with corrupt speech or doing immoral things, that lowers their image of God. It doesn't show Him to be holy. Also, when a believer doesn't worship the Lord and serve Him in a local church, others will see that and think that God is not important to him or her, so why should He be important to them. Let's all be careful to magnify the holiness of God and not to bring shame on His holy name.

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Tomorrow, I intend to read Leviticus 23-25.