Exodus 31:18 — And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.
Every day I get a Christian Joke of the day emailed to me. It’s not always really Christian (it’s not always very funny, either!) — but it’s always fit to print. Sometimes it’s a collection of kids wisdom. This one came the other day and really made me smile — and then it made me think:
Moses came down with the Ten Amendments, which were God’s Bill of Wrongs.” – Susie F., age 7
How seriously do you take the 10 commandments?
I must confess I didn’t always take all of them as seriously as I should. Of course I never went around looking for people to kill, or things to steal, or even other men’s wife to commit adultery with. But I was bought into to the general view that “more is better”. I had no problem with coveting, if not my neighbor’s ass, then at least his Porsche or Ferrari!
When I became a Christian, I began to take a more serious view of things. After all, this was the Word of God, delivered in a personal appearance. I needed to take the “Ten Amendments” seriously and amend some things in my lifestyle. But I still don’t think I really “got it”. Why were some of these — obviously very important — laws so very important?
My problem was that what I didn’t “get” was the principle that underlies the Ten Words. Now it is often said that the first four commandments are about our dealings with God, and the other six Our dealings with man. In one sense that’s true — but in another, it misses the point. The same principle underlies all ten words, and it’s found in Deuteronomy 6:5, “thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.”
Let’s consider some of the later commandments in that light:
I’ve skipped some big ones, of course — but you get the point. Every time we break one of the Ten Commandments, the ten words that make up God’s “Bill of Wrongs”, we are guilty of pride in that we doubt God’s judgment. We are lacking in faith. We are in rebellion. We are not loving God as we should!
I get it now. The Ten Commandments are vital.