Day 24, or January 24. The Ten Commandments are a great start.
Our thought today is rooted in Exodus chapter 19, verses 7 and 8.
So Moses went back and summoned the elders of the people, and said before them all the
words the Lord had commanded him to speak. The people all responded together, We will
do everything the Lord has said.
Now the big picture surrounding these verses. This is one of the most important parts of
the whole Bible. All the people are at the foot of Mount Sinai, and are instructed to
cleanse themselves as preparation to receive what their holy God has to give them through
His servant Moses. They are then given a basic legal framework in the form of the Ten Commandments,
which is a series of laws that are the foundation of many legal systems in the world today.
At this time, Moses gives the commandments verbally. He simply declares them, and people
listen. It's at a later time that they are written by God Himself on two tablets of stone.
This is a truly momentous occasion, and marks mankind's history forever.
And now our action step for today. Many think the Ten Commandments are all negative and
restrictive, but personally I like the concept of restricting murder, stealing, and not bearing
false witness, to name but three. These are qualities that make our world a better place
to live in. God knew what He was doing when He gave them to us. They are designed to encourage
us to be better people. Having said that, they are impossible to keep simply by being
determined or strong-willed. If we could keep them by our own willpower, thus making ourselves
acceptable before God, then Jesus needn't have died. It's what is produced in our
lives when we live by them that may be equated to Paul's idea of the fruit of the Spirit
in Galatians chapter 5. They are a permanent reminder that we need God's Spirit every
day if we are ever to have a truly civilized and godly society.