Supurfluous God Talk

Despite being a Christian I realised recently that I don't hang around with a lot of Christians. Outside of church on Sunday mornings and a weekly Bible study group most of the people I associate with on a regular basis are either clearly not Christians or mostly appear not be Christians.

When I found myself at a support group for parents of children with developmental disabilities run by a church in my area I was surprised by the God talk that I heard. It seemed to me that God was thrown into the conversation the way people throw the words "like" or "you know" into their conversations. I guess I'm not used to people saying in everyday communication that God told them to do this or that or led them into this or that. It felt much too flippant to me. I wonder if this is part of what is meant when the Bible admonishes us not to use the Lord's name in vain?

I have all kinds of ideas floating around in my head. Some of them I act on and try to bring to fruition. I don't know if I would ever dare say that God told me to do any of it or that he led me into any of it. That just seems far too presumptuous to me. While I try to live my life according to God's will I just can't bring myself to put the official God stamp on the decisions I make. The most I am willing to do is to say that I hope my decisions are made according to God's will and to hope that he will be glorified regardless of the decisions I make.

Having grown up watching televangelists crash and burn all the while claiming that God told them to do this or that or that God led them into this or that I'm highly suspicious of anyone else who says it. I have heard other Christians, people that I know and trust say that they felt God was telling them to do something. They generally seemed to me to make their statements with an appropriate amount of solemnity.