The 10 Commandments — Morning Devotions

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Today we don’t often talk about the 10 Commandments. If you Google 10 Commandments, those two words, you’ll probably get all kinds of interesting things. You’ll find 10 commandments for computers, 10 commandments for frugal living, and then you’ll find 10 commandments of driving – plus many, many more. So today we are familiar with that phrase, the 10 Commandments, but we’re not always that familiar with the content. How many of us could actually recite the 10 Commandments? Well, don’t feel bad about it if you don’t know the 10 Commandments. I read of 200 pastors from a variety of denominations, who were asked to name all 10 of the 10 commandments, and only 68 out of 200 got it right. So don’t worry.

Why the 10 Commandments?

So what can we be reminded about this? It really is the guard rails for living. Now that’s a good explanation. It might be a bit old fashioned, but if we ignore the core of the Old Testament law, which is the 10 Commandments, I think we could find ourselves even today on very dangerous ground. Certainly can be boring for some people, but they actually are still God’s rules for living. It doesn’t stop us asking the question, if we didn’t have the 10 commandments, what do we base our moral authority on? What are we going to do in this world?

Who says that we ought to obey something given almost 4000 years ago? Here we are in the 21st century, and as 21st century people, should we obey these 10 commandments? Well, Ted Turner, a respected man, certainly felt that we didn’t have to obey these 10 commandments that you can read in the Bible in Exodus 20, and Deuteronomy 5.  Well, Ted Turner, the TV mogul, he once said that they were obsolete. This is what he said. We’re living with outmoded rules. I bet he said nobody even pays attention to them because they’re just too old. So what he did, he came up with the 10 voluntary initiatives. Now I haven’t read the whole 10, but here are just a few:

He said, I love and respect the planet Earth and all living things that are on it, especially my fellow species. I promise to have no more than 2 children or no more than my nation suggests. I promise, he said, to contribute to those that are less fortunate than myself to help them, because I am self-sufficient and am able to help them as I enjoy the benefits of a decent life.

And he said, I support the total elimination of all chemical, nuclear, and biological weapons. Well, they’re just 4 of Ted Turner’s 10 voluntary initiatives. Now, yes, some of them are good statements. There’s some good stuff here about, stewardship, peacemaking, justice, and yes, they’re all things that we should be concerned about. But to actually challenge the validity of God’s commandments, I think is another matter. I mean, whose moral standards are we going to adhere to? Ted Turner’s or God’s?

I guess any of us if we just had a few moments could come up with 10 rules or 10 things to follow, but this can never take the place of what God is saying. It’s, I guess, about being reverent to him, the God of our universe. He is the giver and the author of these divine statements. Yes, they are old. And it’s based on the truth that God has given us. God gave Moses the 10 Commandments, and you know that Jesus actually came and explained for us a little bit more about the 10 Commandments. And one clergyman said, we do not break God’s law – if we ignore it, it breaks us. That was the way he put it. So God accepts us on the basis of grace, Jesus Christ. And as I said, Jesus understood the 10 Commandments, and Jesus said – You will love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul, and strength, and you shall love your neighbour as yourself. So Jesus was saying, if you do that, you certainly are heeding the 10 Commandments. We certainly do need to have another look at that.

Let’s Pray

Dear God, how encouraging it is to have rules like that, the 10 Commandments. Lord, we also need people to help us. Lord, may that be so today. I pray for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

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