Who will forget if they were alive and old enough to remember it, the assassination of John F. Kennedy?

One of the most traumatic days in human history.

According to all of the reports, when the president was hit by the first bullet,

his head flew backwards, his hands went to his head and he exclaimed the last words he would ever say in his life.

He cried out, oh my God.

Now, I wasn't there and I don't know in what way he uttered those words.

One of the last words that Jesus ever spoke before he died were the same words, my God.

Why have they all forsaken me?

There's nothing wrong with a genuine prayer of expression to say, oh my God, to address God, particularly in times of anguish and in times of crisis.

But what frightens me in our culture is that that expression or just the abbreviated form, my God,

is part of the normal speech patterns of millions of people in our culture.

It's become an exclamation of triviality which reduces the serious invocation of the name of God to the commonplace, to the vulgar.

And so I ask you to examine your own speech habits.

Ask yourself, how do I use the name of God in my routine daily speech?

Thank you for listening to Ultimately with R.C. Sproul.

Dr. Sproul founded Ligonier Ministries to proclaim the holiness of God in all its fullness to as many people as possible.

To learn more about our Holy God, request a free booklet by Dr. Sproul when you visit ultimatelypodcast.com slash holy.