O.M.G.

We all are guilty of saying some sort of variation of OMG.

• Oh my gosh
• Oh-em-gee
• Oh my golly
• Oh my gah

And then there's this one...

• Oh. My. God.

That's the one. That's the one that makes my ears hurt. That's the one that makes my skin crawl. I can hear someone saying "Omigod" from across the room. It's hard to even type it.

I remember being in 2nd grade walking to the bus and I said, "oh my god" about something. Well, my principal, Dr. Livingston overheard me says those three words, and she pulled me over and whispered this into my ear, "Abby Ervin, I know your mama and daddy taught you better than to say something like that. Don't you dare take our Lord's name in vain. I better not hear you say that ever again. You're too sweet to be saying ugly things like that."

I will never forget her saying that to me, and I am so grateful she did. That was probably the most serious conversation I had ever had with someone at that age, and I feel like she needs to grab hold of a lot more people in this world and tell them the same thing.

Ever since I moved to Lafayette, I've heard people say, "oh my god" or "good god" or "oh god" or some other variation all the time. I know that I'm in Catholic Country down here (which is just fine, but very new to me), but I was so blown away at how often I heard God's name in vain that I called my dad and asked if Catholics observe the 10 Commandments. How silly is that?! But really, I didn't know! I've heard it so much down here that I thought surely they must not even know that taking the Lord's name is vain is a sin.

But it also got me thinking. What am I going to do about it? Is it my job to correct them? Is it my job as a believer to bring this sin to the surface and talk about it? I remember hearing Brother Steve talk about the 10 Commandments last year last year at Bellevue. And when he got to the Exodus 20:7 saying, "You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God, for the Lord will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name" he made this analogy: If someone was talking bad about your dad, and misusing his name, wouldn't you stop them and say something? So if you would do that for your earthly father, why wouldn't you do that and stand up for your heavenly Father?

I'm not here to be preachy or anything, but I just want you to be careful when saying any sort of variation of "OMG", because saying "Oh my god" is wildly offensive...and should be. When you speak of our amazing and incredible God, His name should be said out of love and reverence. In a later post, I'll talk about the names of God and show you where His name is defined in scripture, but just to let you know...we serve an incredible God who is Holy and loving and passionate and faithful and forgiving and righteous and so much more! Let's only mention his name out of love and make a really cautious effort not to use His holy name in vain.

I love you guys and hope that you feel loved today :)

God bless and have a lovely evening!