The third of the ten commandments says, "You shall not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain." (Ex. 20:7) Names are important. They mean something. When you hear the names George Washington, Abraham Lincoln or Bill Clinton, something comes to mind. A reputation is represented by the name. So it is with God's name. When Moses asked God, "How shall I answer the people when they ask me, 'What is your name?', God said, "I Am Who I Am." (Ex. 3:13-15) Here is a special name by which God wants to be known, and it is the same basic Hebrew word translated LORD in all capital letters in the commandment "You shall not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain." So what is the name of God not to be taken in vain? It is the name which means "I Am Who I Am." This name is variously translated "I Am What I Do", "I Cause to Become", "Present Is Who I Am", "I Shall Be Who I Shall Be".
What does this name tell us about God? It says that God is a person who exists and has life within himself. He just IS. He is eternal, the uncaused cause who was never created, without beginning or end. He is everywhere and at all times present and there is no one comparable to him.
Later, God amplifies the meaning of his name when he passes in front of Moses and says, "The LORD (I Am), the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness...forgiving wickedness ... and sin. Yet, he does not leave the guilty unpunished." (Ex. 34:6)
God's name represents who he is - the self-existent, eternal, personal, faithful, dependable, always present, incomparable Creator and God. And he doesn't want us to take his name in vain. Meaning what?
To take God's name in vain is simply to use it in a meaningless, trivial disrespectful or self-serving way, as though it were just like any other name, in a way that does damage to the reputation of God. The commandment would appear to forbid the using of God's name as a by-word such as when people say "By God!" or "O God!" or "Good God" or as a trivial swear word such as "I swear by the name of God!"
In Old Testament times it was understood that this commandment forbade the taking of false oaths in the name of God. Newly elected Presidents promise to uphold the dignity of the office "so help me God." If this is a lie, they take the name of God in vain.
When we misrepresent God, we take his name in vain. A few years ago, a prominent televangelist publicly stated that God would take his life if people failed to send in a specified amount of donations. The money didn't come in and the man is still alive today. It appears to many that he used God's name for his own purposes, he used God's name in vain.
Praying to God and calling on his name with cold and insincere hearts trivializes his name and takes it in vain. Or living in sin or condoning sin while claiming to be a Christian or a man of God is to give God a bad name. It is taking his name in vain. Those who pretend to follow God while ignoring what his word says about homosexuality or abortion appear to take his name in vain.
The first commandment "You shall have no other gods before me" means that we are to put God first. The second one, "Don't make any images of me" means that we are to not change God. And this third one, "Don't take God's name in vain" means that we are to know, appreciate and revere God for who he is.
Do you?