Deuteronomy 7:9 ESV “Know therefore that the Lord your God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations.”
Steadfast love to a thousand generations! That love, that’s faithfulness! To those who love him and keep his commands.
The Lord sent the commandments as a guideline, instructions for right living, a marker to work toward! A stumbling block used in condemnation against us! God knew we as humans at the fall in the garden were never going to get these all right all the time yet they are commands to recognize and strive towards.
You shall have no other gods before me! We have many gods: our time, our money, our needs, our desires and goals. Put God before any of these and the rest will fall into place.
You shall not worship false gods! Our titles, our positions, our names, our homes, cars, toys, bank accounts!
You shall never take the Lords name in vain! Pretty self explanatory here! God dammit! Unless you are specifically asking God to damn something I’d be careful here! Why would anyone use the life-giving name of our Lord Jesus Christ as derogatory foul language terminology? He gave his life so any who would believe in his Mighty, Powerful Name would have life and have it abundantly, and yet in conversations, he’s demoted to ignorance of the human mind. Slang!
You shall keep the sabbath day holy! In today’s society it’s often hard as many schedules require us to work on Sunday…I think we should recognize the Lords day and that can be done driving on your way to work. Thanking him for your job, your day, his love! Sabbath is also a day of rest! The Lord speaks of rest and the fact that we do indeed need it! Maybe your sabbath is a Thursday when you have time for that cup of tea, some Bible reading followed by a personal conversation with your Lord.
Honor your mother and father! It may be hard for you, possibly you have parents or a parent that’s hard to honor! Give your emotions and the situation over to God and let him handle it! However, they are your parents and respect is due, even if that respect and honor is your silence!
You shall not murder! Seems pretty straight forward yet we have institutions that are full of people who were in situations that led them to where they are!
You shall not commit adultery! The marriage is meant to be a holy union between a man and a woman. They are brought together to live and be as one, not two, or three or four! The marriage bed is for the husband and wife only…no ghosts allowed!!!
You shall not steal! Again, seems pretty straightforward. We don’t walk into stores and just start putting things in our pockets but have you ever cheated on your taxes? Clocked in before you started working, clocked out after the quarter-hour mark?
You shall not covet! Ha! Here we all fall down! There is not one of us alive that hasn’t and doesn’t covet what someone else has: her marriage, her car, her hair, her smile, her perfect children, her perfect life, her pretty yard, her bank account, her career, her, her, her…it can just as easily be his, his, his…The Lord knows just where we are and just what we have. He knows our today and our tomorrow and we are to trust him that he has us just where he wants us to be…at least for now!
You shall not give false testimony! I live and strongly believe in spiritual law, you can call it karma if you care but I don’t want to be in a place in my life where someone is giving false testimony and lying about me in any given situation I can’t imagine doing that to someone else.
So, we are not going to always get these all right but they are a strong guideline to build your walk on because remember; God keeps his steadfast love to those who keep his commands. To those who love him, he is forever faithful!
I don’t know about you but I’m comforted by that. Be blessed today and thank you for joining me. 🥰
Sunshine On My Shoulder 