The Big Ten

Rules make us complain but what a chaotic world it is where law and order break down! When I was having our deck rebuilt, I chafed at some of the silly regulations that our town had for construction. However, at the same time I am thankful for those same laws that regulate development in my neighborhood. I don’t like when a police officer pulls me over for going a little too fast, but I am very thankful his presence on the road helps to keep drunk drivers from being a greater threat to my safety. Fences and boundaries can be a very good thing in a world where real sinners live.

God gave His people a summary of His expectations which we call the “Ten Commandments.” Read them recently? They reveal how we conduct ourselves in a way that is pleasing to Him and others. We would do well to memorize them. Make no mistake! Keeping them, if we could, won’t get us to Heaven! No amount of rule-keeping can make us right with God. Only Jesus Christ can forgive our sins, but the big ten serve the purpose of building some fences. Galatians calls them "our schoolmaster to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith." (Galatians 3:24, KJV) As the Lord was leading the Israelites to the Promised Land, He held a meeting with them to show them the kind of people He wanted them to be. (Exodus 20) Here’s a paraphrase of what He told them.
1. No other gods but Me.
2. No idols in your life.
3. Don’t misuse my Name by claiming to act under my authority when you’re not.
4. Keep one day out of seven for worship (a Sabbath) following the Creation pattern I established.
5. Honor your parents and you’ll live longer.
6. No murder.
7. No adultery.
8. No stealing.
9. No lying about your neighbor.
10. No lusting for your neighbor’s stuff, his wife, or anything belonging to him.

Being human we look for loopholes in the rules, study them to death, and twist them to fit everyone but ourselves. Yet, they stand! They can guide us to faithful reliance on our Savior who makes us holy starting in our heart, or they will stand as a witness against us when we are summonsed to the Throne to face the Judgment! Which will it be for you? Reading that ancient code I found myself challenged anew by the holy expectation of my Father. I am a free man in Christ Jesus, not bound by the Law of Moses, but it does inform me about the quality of the love that God seeks in me for Himself and for those who live alongside of me.

Read the big ten with appreciation today, and then take this Word with thanksgiving.
"Those who depend on the law to make them right with God are under his curse, for the Scriptures say, “Cursed is everyone who does not observe and obey all the commands that are written in God’s Book of the Law.” So it is clear that no one can be made right with God by trying to keep the law. For the Scriptures say, “It is through faith that a righteous person has life.”
This way of faith is very different from the way of law, which says, “It is through obeying the law that a person has life.” But Christ has rescued us from the curse pronounced by the law. When he was hung on the cross, he took upon himself the curse for our wrongdoing." (Galatians 3:10-13, NLT)

What a Holy God. Hallelujah, what a Wonderful Savior!