Why were the Ten Commandments given? They give us absolute truth to build our lives on. We can’t just make up our own morality as we go. We need a higher authority.
The Commandments are not there to make your life harder. They are there to make your life better. They are not bars keeping you in. They are their barriers of protection keeping evil out. If you live by them, you’ll be a fulfilled person. But no one can keep them in his or her own strength. The commandments show us that we need Jesus. They open our eyes to our shortcomings and sinfulness.
Practical Principles
- “You shall have no other gods before Me.” An idol is anyone or anything that takes the place of God in your life. So let me ask you this. What do you get really excited about? What gets you fired up? What are you passionate about?
- “You shall not make for yourself a carved image or any likeness of anything that’s in heaven above or earth beneath…” Anything can become an idol. We can make an idol out of a person. Our idol can even be our own depiction of God based on the things we pick and choose from Scripture.
Relevant Reminders
- The most dangerous idols are good things that are twisted.
- You cannot re-create God in your own image. You must accept Him as He is.
- The Ten Commandments were given for our own good and protection.
- A true child of God who has Christ living in their life doesn’t need objects to help them worship.
- Everything you’re looking for in life is found in a relationship with God.
Applicable Actions
There might be an idol in your life right now. Remember your god is anyone or anything that takes the place of the true God. It could be a relationship that’s pulling you away from Christ; you’re so concerned about what that person thinks, it’s more important to you than the Lord Himself.
For another person it can be in an object—something you value above all other things—and you’re more passionate about that thing than you are the Lord Himself. It could be your money. Your idol could be your body, or fame, or a career. It can be so many things. But as Matt Damon said, if you make the Oscar your idol, it won’t fill the hole in your heart.
Whatever you try to fill your heart with, if it’s not Jesus, you’re going to keep coming up empty.
