Taking His Name in Vain.
By Max Hill
GOD is love; it is His nature; it is His desire to bless. The man of God, filled with the love of God, has a character of love. His nature, being transformed by that love, is to bless, and his desire is to bless. He sees good, or possibilities of good, in all; and loving all, he calls upon his God to bless those he loves. That man has not taken the name of the Lord in vain, for it has been used in harmony with the divine will, and the blessing comes. On the other hand, the profane man who has not within him a spirit of love, not being connected with the Source of love, becomes vexed and angered by adverse circumstances or men, and calls on God, not for blessing, but for a curse upon the offending element. But to curse has no place in the heart of God. The man has therefore taken the name of the Lord in vain, having asked a vain thing of Him. The sinner, in thus transgressing, brings himself under condemnation, "for Jehovah will not hold him guiltless that taketh His name in vain." Tho he may observe every other command of God, he is a sinner if he breaks one, "for whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in one point, he is become guilty of all." He has broken the spirit of the law by disobedience. His final end is destruction, for "the soul that sinneth, it shall die," "the wages of sin is death." MAX HILL.