Exodus 34:27-28 His Rules for Our Lives

Exodus 34:27-28 “Then the LORD said to Moses, 'Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.' Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments.”

The times of our lives change, minute by minute, day by day, year by year. We have these mile-markers on the highway of life that let us know where we are and we as a world just past one. Its at times like these that it is good for us to know where we are and where we have come from, as well as where we are going. It is also good to re-evaluate ourselves based on a standard and unchanging unit of measurement. Spiritually, that means we must look at the Bible and evaluate ourselves and our lives based against it, and not just our own personal life, but also the “lives” of our nations and world. We must take a step back and compare ourselves and our communities with Gods word to see if we are following them or not. To do so  means that we look not only at the favorable, but also the unfavorable  in both our lives and the Bible. How often do we, in our reading come across something in God's word that we don't like? How often do we wonder if maybe our dislike for the passage comes from a place in our lives rather than something “not making sense” in the Bible?

When we look at the 10 Commandments, we see a unified theme that contradicts every other “spiritual” law system out there.  We see that all other religious works are about appeasing god/gods and the relationship between man and God. We see instructions on what and how to act to gain the favor of the deities.  But in the 10 Commandments only the first four are God related! In essence the first four commandments tell us that God is to be our only God, and we must treat Him with respect and honor. The next six are all about how we are to behave towards other people! The whole thing is all about interpersonal relationships! If the first four are God saying “honor and respect me” the next six are saying “Honor and respect everyone around you like you honor and respect me” which then leads to my point for today:  How we act towards the people around us, how we treat them, how we behave around them, how we talk to them, and how we think about them are all indicators of how we really act, treat, behave, talk, and think about God.

To see how someone's relationship is with God, you merely have to see what his actions and speech towards the people around him – both those he likes and those he doesn't like – are like. Others will also look at you in the same way. So this week, lets re-evaluate our behaviour towards others. Lets see where we are acting like the Godly people we would like to be, and lets find those spots where we aren't. This week, lets take the first steps in measuring ourselves against the standard set  by The Bible and Jesus Christ.

Help me, O Lord, the God of my salvation;
I have no hope, no refuge but in Thee;
Help me to make this perfect consecration,
In life or death Thine evermore to be.

Help me, O Lord, to keep my pledge unbroken;
Guard Thou my ways, my thoughts, my tongue, my heart;
Help me to trust the word which Thou hast spoken,
That from Thy paths my feet may ne’er depart.
                                                             ^{Fanny Crosby, 1985}