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News Articles: THE TEN COMMANDMENTS (Sunny Thomas)
Posted on Sunday, May 15 @ 12:30:58 CDT by admin |
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puthooran writes "The Story of Moses in the First Person
By SUNNY THOMAS
You ask me which is the most memorable moment in my life? Those spellbinding moments of miracles that God performed through me before Pharaoh, or the awe-inspiring splitting of the Red Sea, or the fleeting pleasures of the palace which I renounced?
Those moments are nothing compared with the encounters I had with God, beginning with the Burning Bush. The first picture of God that comes to my mind is His majesty. What a majesty! His holiness is aglow around His face and person, that we call glory. You may ask, ``Have you seen God face to face?’’
No man can see His face and yet live. A tiny bulb gets burnt when 1000 mw electricity passes through it. Yet we can see His glory if God grants us that privilege. When God descended, accompanied by thunder and lightning, Mount Sinai shook and smoke billowed over. The 10 Commandments is the key to a healthy and happy living. It is the quintessence of a godly life as it reveals the character of God.
``Now therefore, if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, then you shall be a special treasure to Me above all people,’’ promised the Lord. To be the apple of God’s eye, you need to obey His commandments; and then no evil shall touch you, and you will remain the most blessed of people. The children of Israel were asked to sanctify themselves for two days and keep off the mountain while the Lord descended, which they obeyed.
Written by God Himself, the 10 Commandments proclaims the express will of God for His children and is a manual for holy living to belong to the family of God. By accepting it you come under God’s protection; and by rejecting it you reject God and come under His wrath. Many people who have not heard of the 10 Commandments keep it because it is written in the conscience of everyone, no matter what one’s religion.
``I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt…You shall have no other gods before Me’’. In the very first sentence, God reveals Himself; `I am that I am’, the only sovereign and uncreated Being who has life in himself. The existence of all other living beings depends on the will of this sovereign Being. God is the Author of life who created it, sustains it and takes it back at will; others can only procreate life.
Remember what Our Lord Jesus said, ``As the Father has life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself.’’ On another occasion the Lord said, ``..I lay down My life that I may take it again. No one takes it from Me but I lay it down of Myself. I have the power to lay it down and I have the power to take it again. In essence, only the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, the triune God, has life in Himself. That’s why we call God the Father of spirits: all life proceeds from Him and goes back to Him.
Therefore, the First Commandment urges you to revere God and worship Him. To worship God is to esteem Him in your thought, word and deed. Once you understand who God is, your perspective of life changes. You should have a passion for God and keep the sanctum sanctorum (Holy of Holies) of your heart for Him. You should let Him control your entire life so that you emerge as a person of great accomplishment.
You little children may not have understood what Egypt stands for. But those of us who lived there for years know how corrupt are the moral fabrics of that culture. The seeds of idol worship, sexual immorality and hardness of heart that invited God’s judgement later in the desert were implanted in Egypt. Remember how God hardened the heart of Pharaoh, who refused to listen to God’s word? When you reject God’s word, your heart gets harder and harder. Those men who rebelled in the desert had Pharaoh as their role model. Children, choose men of God as your role model.
``You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a zealous God…’’ Anything that stands in between your God and you is your idol. When you hero-worship yourself, you could be an idol. When you love your parents, children or others more than God, they become your idols. When you defile your body in immorality, you become an idol worshipper; when greed or covetousness or jealousy controls you, you have already become an idol worshipper. Give first place to God in your life, and you will lead a happier and prosperous life. This indeed is the first principle of life.
``You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.’’
Your conversation must reflect your wisdom and intelligence and let blasphemy and vanity be far from it. Fools goad their conversation with ``by God’’ or ``upon God’’.
Habitual liars readily swear by God without knowing what is in store for them. Take the name of your God in worship and exhortations and not in the lighter moments of your life.
``Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.’’ What is set apart for God is holy and keep your Sundays for worship, for studying the word of God and for doing good deeds. Many of you rob God by working on Sundays or studying on Sundays. The way you keep your Sabbath speaks of how much or how little you love the Lord your God. Know for a certainty that Sabbath violators are never blessed.
``Honour your father and your mother so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you.’’ Your parents are your visible God who brought you into this world and who provides for you, sometimes even making great sacrifices of which you know little. Honour your parents if you want prosperity and longevity. And provide for them in their old age so that they don’t suffer the indignities of life. Be ever grateful to them, for a grateful heart is a godly heart.
``You shall not murder.’’ Today’s murder is not through deadly weapons but through deadly words that mortally wound and maim. In the image of God are you created and when you hurt another life however insignificant it may seem, you are in effect hurting the Creator. Some people have a talent for it and with pride they nurture the art. Sadly, what they don’t realise is with each murder they are moving away from the realm of God into the realm of darkness.
``You shall not commit adultery.’’ You are defiling the very temple of God when you indulge in immorality. Be holy in every part of your body so that when you pray God answers you. Many people have fallen away from godliness because of this sin. Ask for God’s special grace and fast and pray to overcome the temptation of the flesh. Families and kingdoms and nations have been ruined because of this one sin; cities like Sodom and Gomorrah have been overthrown because of this sin. Sin is poison in a very attractive package; it deforms and disfigures personality and finally death overtakes, not just physical but spiritual, which is eternal separation from the living God. Alas!
``You shall not steal.’’ Volumes can be written on the modus operandi of stealing because it is so widespread and prevalent in every human transaction. From exploiting workers to shirking work in office, from borrowing and not returning to trapping legally to deprive of someone else’s property, stealing embraces all human activity. Unlike the tribal and agrarian society, the modern capitalistic society is so complex that everything it does, be it advertising, marketing, media or banking, there is an element of sophisticated stealing everywhere under the garb of commercialism. So try to live as honestly as possible and do not take away anything that does not rightly belong to you.
``You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour.’’ Slandering and character assassination has become the favourite pastime of the high society. Remember, that’s exactly the preoccupation of Satan who accuses God’s people day and night. The most heinous act a man can come up with is to bear false witness against his brother to ruin him or send him to jail. He has no iota of truth in him and is the very child of his father, the devil, even if he may be an ecclesiastical office-bearer.
``You shall not covet.’’ Why do people covet except overrun by greed? Greed is a monster that swallows men and women of all ages. Greed is the antithesis of godliness and is the cause of all wars and quarrels the world over. How were empires built but by conquering kingdoms, and how were kingdoms built but by conquering small, small countries, and how were countries built but by conquering tribes and large families? Violence is the expression of greed and politics its manifestation. Those who covet are ever destined to be unhappy because covetousness knows no end. In fact, tears, pains and sorrows are their reward.
If you observe the First Commandment, you will observe the rest nine; but if you don’t observe the first you will violate all the 10. The secret of keeping all the 10 Commandments is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind; and then you will begin to love your neighbour as yourself. The first four Commandments could be summed up in one word: worship. And the next six Commandments could be summed up in another word: service. The epitome of the 10 Commandment is love of God and love of man.
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