It’s been said that humans have written 32,647,389 laws and they still haven’t improved on the Ten Commandments. Abraham Lincoln said of the Ten Commandments, “But for the Ten Commandments, we wouldn’t know right from wrong.” Theodore Roosevelt put it this way: “No man is a good citizen unless he acts so as to show he actually uses the Ten Commandments.”
Here are the first two of the Ten Commandments.
Practical Principles
- “You shall have no other gods before Me.” God wants an exclusive relationship. He doesn’t want to share you with other gods any more than a husband wants to share his wife with other men.
- “You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that’s in heaven above or earth beneath or in the water under the earth.” There are a lot of things that can become idols in your life. an idol is anyone or anything that takes the place of God in your life.
Relevant Reminders
- The Ten Commandments are not a cage to keep you in. They are a barrier to keep evil out.
- The Ten Commandments are like traffic laws. They’re there for a reason: to keep you alive.
- The first four commandments have to do with our relationship with God. The final six commandments have to do with our relationship with other people.
- Jesus did not say, “Keep My commandments and I’ll love you.” He said, “If you love Me, you’ll keep My commandments.”
Applicable Actions
Jesus summed it up this way, “You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, and with all of your mind, and you shall love your neighbor as yourself,” and then He said, “there are no other Commandments greater than these.” If you love God with all of your heart, soul and mind, and you love your neighbor as yourself, the rest of the commandments will come naturally.
