Saturday, April 24: Talking like a sailor

This morning while on the tennis court, the gardener from Alta Laguna Park was trimming the bushes beside the courts with a chainsaw. It was so loud, and made it really hard to concentrate. I was waiting for my next lesson to arrive, and fortunately, was not teaching a lesson at the time. Yet I was thinking of how irritating the sound was, and how much I was looking forward to the cacophony ceasing. Then I heard it. Two courts over, a man missed a forehand and screamed his curse, using the Lord’s name in vain. I then noticed how much more that offended my ears than the loudness of the chainsaw!


That reminded me of some interesting billboards that lined Interstate 10 near Palm Springs a few years ago. An advertising agency in Ft. Lauderdale came up with 17 non-denominational messages from God.


One of them said, “Keep using My name in vain and I’ll make rush hour longer.” – God


What always amazed me is that the Federal Communications Commission would not allow seven words on television, but the Lord’s name in vain was not on that list! As much as the other words bother me, that is the one that sends me into a tailspin. The fact that it is accepted boggles the mind. That gives us a reminder of who is in charge of this world. Satan, in his pride, hates God. Can you imagine a created being, who things he is equal with his Creator? As much intelligence as Satan has, he knows that he has no chance at beating God in any contest, yet his pride will not let Satan accept that fact. Don’t forget his fall from grace:


12 “How you are fallen from heaven,
O Lucifer, son of the morning!
How you are cut down to the ground,
You who weakened the nations!
13 For you have said in your heart:
‘I will ascend into heaven,
I will exalt my throne above the stars of God;
I will also sit on the mount of the congregation
On the farthest sides of the north;
14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds,
I will be like the Most High.’
Isaiah 14:12-14


Desiring to be worshipped like the Most High, Satan has it in his plan to draw as many away from the Lord as he can. One of his many strategies includes running God’s name through the mud. As Christians, it hurts when we hear people using the name in a curse that is the name above all names. At the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord! If they don’t worship Him now, they certainly will in the future. We know that, for God has promised us. In the meantime, don’t subject yourself to hearing His name in that manner. We don’t have to attend those movies. And in my case, I usually have children on the tennis court. I have no problem letting those angry players know that how they speak at home is their business, but how they scream on the tennis court is everybody’s business. Sadly, many just don’t get it, like Tiger Woods, but we realize that they are captives of the one in control of the world.