Are the Ten Commandments still relevant today? Must we still follow
them? God is so good to us. He gives us our very lives. He holds our
next breath in his hands. He takes care of us and answers our prayers.
He offers paradise for all eternity if we will only put our trust in
him. But, in return, he makes specific demands on us. These are not
suggestions; God was not kidding when he gave these commands. Remember,
God has every right to do this.
But, as we will see, our lives are so much better, so much richer if
we follow these Commandments. They are not random rules that keep us
from enjoying our lives. Quite the contrary, all of our relationships
will be better and our lives will be richer if we will follow them.
I believe we must know the Ten Commandments. We must know them and
understand them. Then we can follow them and please God with our lives.
Then we can live the abundant life he offers.
This first Commandment begins it all. It must begin here or we will
never follow the others. God told Israel that he and only he is to be
their God. Back then, there were named gods all around and it was a
temptation to run after and worship them for whatever reason. Today, it
is still a temptation, but the gods we run after may have different
names, like money or fame or popularity or power or pleasure or comfort
or even family.
God says we must not put anything above him. We must not love
anything or anyone more than we love him. We must not worship anything
or anyone other than him. Instead of giving God our left-overs, we give
him first place in our lives. Jesus said it like this, “To love God with
all of our hearts and souls and minds and strength.” God demands that
he be our one and only god. Why does God want this from us? The Bible
says God created us for his pleasure. He wants a relationship with us.
He wants to be our god and he wants us to love him with all of our
hearts. When we obey this first Commandment, we are simply fulfilling
why we are here in the first place.
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