More On the Ten Commandments

The Ten Commandments won't budge! Written in stone by the very finger of God, they ever serve as reminders to us as to what it means to love God! Most of us are aware that Jesus summed up the Ten Commandments with two. In Mt 22:36, we read, "Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law?" 37 Jesus said to him," 'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.' 38 "This is the first and great commandment. 39 "And the second is like it: 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' 40 "On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets." This is so beautifully stated, and we can even see these two arenas of love expressed in the Ten Commandments. By that I mean we see what is called the First table of the Law dealing with the “how to's” of loving God, and the second table of the Law dealing with the “how to's” of loving our neighbor. In fact, if you were to do a basic English Class lesson in outlining the Law of God, Roman numeral I would be: “Love God,” and under that heading would be: A: Thou shalt have no other gods before Me. B. Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. C. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Then under Roman Numeral II, you would put “Love your neighbor as yourself,” and under that heading you would put the rest of the Ten Commandments. If you wanted to carry it even further, (and you should) you could probably take the teachings of Jesus from His sermon on the mount and find a place for them under the commands. For example, under the heading of “Thou shalt not murder,” we would find the matter of being angry without cause categorized in a sub-heading under murder, and under the heading of “Thou shalt not commit adultery, we would find the matter of lustful leering categorized in a sub-heading as adultery. You get the point. Jesus summed up the commands with the word “Love,” but if you want to know “how to” love God and love neighbor specifically, you need to know the Ten Commandments, and the sermon on the mount. That's the good news! We don't have to guess as to what it takes to love God and neighbor! It's right there in the Ten Commandments and the Sermon on the Mount! The bad news is, as we see what it takes, we must confess that none of us are capable of loving so perfectly. That's the dilemma of mankind! We all sin and fall short of the glory of God! We all need Jesus! He is the only one who loved God and man perfectly! Thank You Lord for showing us our need for Jesus in the Ten Commandments. Thank You for sending Jesus to die for our sins, for all those times we failed to love You and others in accordance with Your Word! Thank You for Your forgiveness through faith in Jesus and Your promise that as many as receive Jesus have the right to become Your children! (Joh 1:12)