OMG!

I wonder what you think of the new trend to use the three-letter abbreviation OMG? Of course, it stands for “O my God!” We all know what the world does, how they so often blaspheme the holy name of God because they’re in the darkness and don’t know God, so I’m not talking about them. I want to address something which is a growing concern to me, and that is how believing Christians so easily pick up the world’s talk.

We’re in the world, but certainly not of it, we mix with unsaved people who now use OMG much of the time. It’s in TV soaps, TV interviews, and cookery programmes. I went to buy a birthday card for a friend’s 70th birthday and there it was on the front of the card .... “OMG you are Seventy!”

I believe this is breaking the third commandment and displeases the Lord. How do we define the sin of taking the Lord’s name in vain? The Hebrew meaning involves emptying His name. It means speaking of God in a way that empties Him of significance. It’s about speaking of Him in trifling or flippant ways, not just swearing ways, but cheap ways, low and insignificant ways which show no fear of the Lord. I believe the use of OMG does just that.

We are created, and He’s the Creator. He’s worthy of our love and our worship. We should revere Him, worship Him, and delight in Him. Then, out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth will speak.
Scripture reminds us that no unwholesome talk should come out of our mouths. We need to be very careful what we say. Most of us could sharpen up on this.

OMG as an abbreviation or as an exclamation shouldn’t come out of the mouth of a believer. The old hymn by John Newton says it beautifully:

‘How sweet the name of Jesus sounds in a believer’s ear.
It soothes our sorrows, heals our wounds and drives away our fear’.

I remember that Jim Graham used to teach us that we can’t pray in the name of Jesus unless we live in the name of Jesus.

I would like to warn you to be very careful about ‘OMG’. I believe its source is the spirit of the age, which is an antichrist spirit, and can lull us into seeing it as a modern, innocuous trend, instead of something which trivialises God and breaks one of His ten commandments.

Prayer: Dear Father, please help me not to misuse Your name, and to be careful about what I say. Help me not to copy what the world does, but to keep Your name holy. I know there’s power in Your name. I’m sorry for the times I’ve used it wrongly. Please forgive me. In Jesus’ name, I pray. Amen.