For Our Good

A lot of us don’t like commandments, because we see them as restrictive. CNN founder Ted Turner once made this statement about the Ten Commandments: “We’re living with outmoded rules. . . . Today, the commandments wouldn’t go over. Nobody around likes to be commanded.”

I agree with Turner that people don’t like to be commanded. But if we want to live lives that are full, we have to recognize there is structure, there are parameters, and there are absolutes.

It would be like someone saying, “I don’t like traffic laws. I am not into stoplights. I am not going to live by the rules. I am going to drive wherever I want to drive and go wherever I want to go. I want my freedom.” But those laws are there for our protection. Those stoplights and traffic lanes are there so we can get to where we need to go.

The Bible does say that we should not do certain things. The Bible does tell us to stay away from specific things. But it also tells us what to do. When it tells us to stay away from one thing, it tells us to do another thing in its place.

For example, the Bible says, “And do not be drunk with wine” (Ephesians 5:18). There is the don’t. But here is the do: “But be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord” (verses 18–19). God says, “Don’t do this, but do this instead.”

God’s plan is always better. Sure, He tells us to stay away from certain things. But it is for our own good.