Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.I like this verse, because it boils our job down to a simply, easy-to-recall statement. But if we dive deeper, what are his "commandments"? Of course, the Bible is full of instructions on how we should conduct our lives, and I believe that an active prayer life involves constant study of the Bible.
But if you seek a condensed set of instructions, head right for the Ten Commandments, which appear in Exodus 20:1-17. (They also appear in Deuteronomy 5:4-21.)
Make Exodus 20:1-17 a regular part of your Bible reading, but as you go through the commandments, recall that Jesus advised us to interpret the Ten Commandments as liberally as possible. For example, the 5th commandment says, "You shall not murder." OK, easy enough. Just don't murder anyone.
But in his Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says that, in addition to the strict definition of murder, we also are guilty of murder if we are angry at someone, or if we insult someone, or if we utter anything bad about anyone. (See Matthew 5:21-22). By this definition, all of us are guilty of murder!
The point is that we should interpret each of the Ten Commandments as liberally as we possibly can. Read the Commandments again and again. And then,
Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
No comments:
Post a Comment