“Marco”…”Polo”…”Marco”…”Polo”. As children, many have undoubtedly shouted these words while playing the simple game of tag in a pool. But how many shouting the name know who Marco Polo was or why a game was based around his name?
Marco Polo was a Venetian explorer of the late 1200’s through early 1300’s. He traveled to China, India and surrounding parts of Asia. He has been credited as introducing the “unknown Orient” to Western Europe. Legends say he did not know exactly where he was going when he first traveled east towards Asia, thus the game’s name was originated.
The chiding of Marco Polo’s name in a children’s game is lighthearted and not mean-spirited. The same is said by those who take the holy name of God and His Son Jesus Christ in vain.
The Ten Commandments have in times past been regarded with reverence and some have even attempted to observe them. How far society has slipped away from that DESIRE–the desire to please God! The commandments are not difficult to understand if a person has a desire to read, to listen and follow. “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain…” (Exodus 20:7). While easy to comprehend it is almost impossible to go out into society today and not hear that commandment broken numerous times in our daily routines. What society does not understand, or just plain ignores, is the consequence for breaking that commandment, continuing in verse 7 “…for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.”
Blaspheming God’s Name has become nothing more than a game, a way to get one’s point across with greater emphasis. But the misuse of God’s Name is NOT excusable. “Of how much worse punishment, do you suppose, will he be thought worthy who has trampled the Son of God underfoot, counted the blood of the covenant by which He was sanctified a common thing, and insulted the Spirit of grace?” (Hebrews 10:29).
Society is unwilling to live in a way that pleases God. We must NEVER fall into the same, satanically inspired trap. God must always be first in our thoughts and actions. It is easy to become man-pleasers, following after our own desires and forgetting God altogether. But we are warned where this attitude leads: “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death” (Proverbs 16:25). Death! Let each one of us demonstrate our willingness to live. Christianity is not a lighthearted game. It is a walk of life that requires every bit of our sincerity to be lights in a darkening world.
