The Ten Commandments Won't Budge

I saw a Facebook post this morning of surveillance video that someone posted from a local retail store. In the video, a woman is shown helping herself to a donation jar for the family of a son who is battling leukemia. She nonchalantly made room in her over-sized purse, put the jar in and walked out of the store. If there was any hint of remorse or shame on her face, I didn't see it. Whatever happened to the Ten Commandments? This incident made me think of a book I recently read, written by Pastor B.A. Maurer in 1951 called “The Ten Commandments Won't Budge.” The title of the book comes from a James Russell Lowell couplet that goes like this: “In vain we call old notions fudge And bend our conscience to our dealing The Ten Commandments will not budge And stealing will continue stealing.” Try as we may to ignore them and remove them from the public square, the fact is the Ten Commandments will not budge! Jesus said in Mt 5:18, "For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled.” I wonder if the thief in the surveillance video had ever heard of that commandment in church as a child, or in her upbringing at home, or if she ever stopped to read them in her Bible, or areas where they may have been posted in the public square? Has she any awareness of this commandment written in stone by the Creator of the Universe? Are you aware of God's Ten Commandments? Are you familiar with them? Can you name them? How about your children? Have they memorized them and stored them up in their heart? The Psalmist encourages us to do this in Ps 119:11, “Your word I have hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You!” Spend time on a regular basis reading these commands and sharing them with your children. For they serve a threefold purpose: First of all they act as a curb, restraining evil in this world. Secondly they act as a mirror and expose us as sinners in need of a Savior, and finally for the follower of Christ, they show us how to live God-pleasing lives!