December 22
Some of us, even believers, have taken the name of the Lord Jesus Christ in vain. To those who are not inclined toward faith, His name is a mere cuss word in a repertoire of unsavory epithets that are uttered to express disdain for a situation or an individual.
Those who are well-practiced in the blasphemous usage of the “Name that is given above all names, the only Name by which men may be saved” (Acts 4:12) will have a rude awakening one day when the light of truth illumines the darkness in which they have chosen to live their lives.
In Matthew 17:6, we get a preview of the power of that Name, the Name that can save and the Name that can condemn to eternal darkness. Here we get a glimpse of the transfiguration of Jesus. The disciples hear a voice from Heaven declaring that God is well-pleased with His Christ—and these men who had walked with the Lord, “fell face down and were terrified.”
If they who knew Him as companion and brother, they who walked with Him and talked with Him and saw His love extended to the masses fell on their faces in fear and trepidation at the revelation of His glory, we can only shudder to think of the horror of the blasphemer, the hater of God, the mocker of truth when he recognizes Who it is who offered him life and he despised the Gift.
May each of us—saint and sinner alike have opportunity to lay ourselves at the feet of the One who will receive us with mercy—reassess our perception of life and of our self so we may recognize our sin and our need for the Savior.
May we, whether our sin is that of murder or adultery or lying or blasphemy or unbelief turn from our wicked ways and receive the mercy, the grace, the forgiveness, the love of the One who died to set us free from sin, and may we confess in time what every tongue shall confess in eternity, that, “…Jesus Christ is Lord,” Philippians 2:11.
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