ezra 9

We live in a culture that values individualism. That can be a good thing, don't get me wrong. We should recognize how God has made each of us unique and called us according to His plans. But we can take it too far without realizing it and forget that we are also a part of something bigger. Paul's illustration of a body applies. I only have one left thumb. It serves a specific purpose, but apart from my body, it won't do much good. It's unique, but part of something bigger. 

Ezra understands that he is a part of something much bigger. In chapter 9 we find Ezra distraught over the sin of the remnant that had returned to Israel. They had married people from the occupants of the land. He has such an amazing bird's eye view of the whole situation and really calls out how much grace God has lavished on His people despite their iniquity, but he is just broken over the sin he sees. When was the last time you were truly broken over the sin of your family, your church, your city or your nation? When was the last time you were willing to sacrifice your time to pray or risk calling out sin?

Sin should do that to us. It should break our hearts when we see it, not just when it's consequences collide with us. It should break our hearts in a way that leads us to wanting to see those engaging in it find grace and forgiveness. Our goals should never be to shame others into better behavior, but to see others respond to the love of a God who sacrificed His Son for them. When Ezra is confronted with the sin of the people, he doesn't hold back. He doesn't pretend it's all ok. He calls out the sin and he prays. 

Something struck me several weeks ago during a time of worship, as I stood in awe of the greatness and the beauty of God's name. As I stood there, I found myself just devastated by something that's become normal, not only in our culture but in our churches. And even though it's hard to figure out how to say something about a prevalent sin,  I can't not. 

We must stop using the Lord's name in vain. I know that in light of all that goes on in our world, even in our churches and homes, this might seem menial, like treating a paper cut on a man with a gaping wound. It's not. This is important and it's become all too common in our speech. 

For the sake of transparency, I am quick to speak, often. I say stupid things. I utter words that grieve myself, others, and the Lord. And I have certainly been guilty of using the Lord's name incorrectly. This is a sin that happens in my home too.

My Beloved Ones, the name of the Lord should be glorified, honored, and praised. Have you ever been completely overcome in your time with the Lord, filled with joy and awe, suddenly aware of how small you are and how big He is and how much He cares for you? Have you ever been blown away by His holiness and His love? James talks about how cursing and blessing should not come from the same mouth, and yet, so often, this is the case.

God's name was not meant to be used as a frustrated exclamation. His name is not a cry of shock or an utterance of disbelief. When we use His name, it should be for His glory. There is no other reason to use His name. When used for any other reason than to glorify Him, His name is used incorrectly. 

Last week, my four year old and my nine hear old both woke up at about 10:30 at night. The four year old had croup and the nine year old had been woken up by his brother's cough. WonderHubs got him a drink and sent him back to bed while I steamed up the bathroom and got my four year old some medicine. As I was tucking him into bed, I heard my nine year old yelling for me. It sounded urgent, so I left my little one to check on him. When I got to his room, he said, calmly, "Mom, does Easter mean spring in English?" Are you kidding me?!? He'd been screaming my name like his head was stuck in, well anything. 

Or this. We're in the car and there is muffled arguing in the back. All of a sudden someone yells, "MOOOOOM!" I turn around and ask what they need. Silence. Dead silence. Because they were only using my name as a threat to get their way in the argument. Seriously. 

My name, although my parents put great effort into choosing it, is not special. It's not holy. It's not a refuge for anyone. It's a name, a name that I continue to correct people on because I want them to say and use my name correctly. And it makes me more than a little crazy when my kids misuse it. How much more so when we misuse the name of the holy, perfect God?

Why does this matter so much? Let me lay out a couple of reasons. 

1. We must keep a correct view of God. Misusing His name distorts that view. Instead of approaching Him humbly and giving Him honor, we approach Him with vulgarity and pride. 
2. When our view of the Lord is distorted, our view of everything else is distorted. Our view of love, our view of respect and honor, our view of right and wrong, gets all kinds of blurry when our view of God is distorted.
3. When our views of right and wrong, of love, of respect are blurry and out of focus, our actions get off course and we do things we'd rather not.

Will working to stop using the Lord's name in vain make you perfect? Of course not! But it will impact you and even more importantly, it will honor God. But habits. Habits are hard to break! What will you put on in place of using the Lord's name in vain? Will you take that moment when you find yourself frustrated and actually pray? Will you determine ahead of time what you will say when something shocks you? Will you plan to testify to His goodness when you might have taken His name in vain before? Whatever you do, do it in the power of prayer and armed with the Word of God. 

tip:

Take a step back and spend some time evaluating the big picture in your home. Pray and ask the Lord to reveal areas that have allowed a root of sin to take hold. Petition Him to give you strength and wisdom as you approach these issues. Habits tend to be contagious, especially in families. At some point, WonderHubs and I started putting things on our counters. We'd come in and put the mail on the counter and whatever else was in our hands. Guess where our kids leave everything? The counter. It's not a huge deal, unless you want to see the counters. If we don't consciously put things in their actual places, the counters end up piled with 10 people's stuff. 

tool:

I, somewhat sporadically, use a chore/attitude tracker with my kids. The older ones have a set of chores that they are responsible for and we pay them for their work. Having a tracking system allows them to see how they're doing. It's not used in a punitive sense, but rather a metric. It allows them to get feedback about how they're doing and it allows us to be able to get a bird's eye view and spot potential areas of trouble. Has one of the kids been having an attitude all week? What's going on? We know we need to make time to connect and help them deal with any issues. Have they been skipping their chores? Why? Are they overwhelmed by homework this week? Not feeling well? Maybe we need to adjust their chores, or maybe they need a reminder. Either way it allows us to deal with little issues before they get bigger. 

You can download my chore tracker in the let us belove(d) March newsletter or you can make your own. Each kid gets a row for attitude and chores. Every day is a column. Then determine a scale: happy/sad faces, 1-10, 1-4, whatever works for you. Then start tracking and look for those patterns!