For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
The way I was raised, I was taught to always give thanks to my Lord because of what He has done for me. I was taught that my responsibility in this life is to rise on the Sabbath and worship our Lord in the assembly of others, regardless how I was feeling.
Each of the major religions of the world, Judaism, Muslim and Christianity has a Sabbath day. Each of them pays tribute to God. Our Muslim people refer to God adoringly as Allah. Christians pay tribute to the risen Savior Jesus Christ. Christians bury their dead pointing them toward the east, the direction of Christ returning. When Muslim's pray they pray toward the east, in the direction of Mecca. In all these religions, respect and honor are given. I'm not afraid of the Muslim people because I was taught to pray for them. I know that many of the Muslim people are coming to Christ through dreams. The same goes for my Jewish friends.
Feelings, I've learned, change moment by moment, second by second and simply cannot be trusted in guiding me in my daily decisions. What this means is I will worship even when I'm feeling sad, while in mourning, or simply because I am afflicted with selfish motives. I go to Church because it is the right thing to do. In preparation for my worship experience, I will listen to praise songs on the radio along with some good Bible teaching. I want my mind to be filled with happy thoughts, not with the gloom and doom I see on the news each day.
Since I was a young boy, the news media as always accentuated the bad sensationalized news over the good because it sells prescriptions. I've learned that the Bible I carry to church or read from the Pew is God's manual for living a life with purpose and hope. Even in the face of the most tragic loss, God is there for you. He is walking side by side, sometimes carrying you through life's toughest spots.
My challenge to you is this: start discarding all of the ways you might be 'dissing' our Lord's name. If you hear someone doing so, try to find ways to gently remind them that you do not appreciate them talking about God in that way. My speculation is if we did this and then honor our Lord through the process of public worship at a church near you that you may sense a greater presence of the Lord.
God desires are for all of us to clean up our language by leaving the 'dissing' out and honor him with words of praise. If all of us did this, I think we will love the changes we see.
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