This post is about how to apply the Ten Commandments, which could seem a bit outdated to our lives today. I understand that some people looking at this won’t agree with the whole idea of being given Ten Commandments to try and follow in our lives. I get that, and am fine with it. I would, however, encourage you to keep reading, as this post has some ideas that we can all use to make us better, nicer people. I believe that these are ‘guidelines’ from God on how to live our lives. I use the word guidelines instead of rules because I believe we have been given free will over our decisions and so we don’t have to follow these (but it's a pretty good idea to). As a child of God, I really want to try my very best to stick to them. But I know I'm not perfect and accept that I will mess up and get things wrong. I'm unfinished – God’s still working on me and I've got a long way to go.
So here they are:
You shall have no other gods before Me. At a glance, this seems like one we can say ‘well I don’t do that, I don’t believe in any other gods’, but is that really what this is about? Is it more about deciding not to put other things in your life before God, such as work, people, personal possessions? We need to make sure God is our number one priority, and that anything else is no way near as important to us than him.
2. You shall not make idols. I think this one is becoming very easily done these days. Celebrities are so easy to idolise. You like their clothes, their looks, their body, the way they act, the fact that they have money. You try to be like them. You look up to them. God tells us we should try to live in his image – we need to try to live like Jesus did and ignore other ideas on how we should be living, we need to try to stop looking up to other people and making them so important and idolising them.
3. You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain. This one is simple: watch your mouth. Be aware of the words you are saying. Swearing and things like ‘Oh my God’ are becoming really normal to hear, but this is a commandment that is up there with not murdering! Another thing to mention is that it’s not necessarily the word you say, but the meaning behind what you say. ‘fudge’ still has the mean of another word behind it if you still say it in the way you intended.
4. Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. I find this tricky. Keeping Sunday’s holy and trying to keep it as a day of rest. It seems like Sunday is becoming just another day in the week with people working and keeping themselves busy. I've tried to follow in my Mum’s footsteps with this. She told me before how she feels like she shouldn't be doing housework on a Sunday and that she should save it for weekdays and spend Sundays relaxing. I try to do a similar thing by doing any school work during the week or on a Saturday. I also struggle with this with my job. I work as a waitress, and Sunday’s are very busy at the restaurant. I've been asked so many times if I can work Sunday’s, and except for one time, I've managed to keep saying no. After I explained that it’s because of my faith they understood and I haven’t been asked since. I've realised I need my Sundays to stop myself from going completely crazy.
5. Honour your father and your mother. Obey your parents. Do as they say and respect them. They've given you love, a home, food, a place to sleep and so much more. The least you could do is show them some gratitude. I struggle with this to be honest... I find that when they tell me to/not to do something, I immediately want to do the opposite! I don't necessarily want to be like that and I try not to, but it's very tricky to control and I'm sure some of you reading this can relate to this.
6. You shall not murder. Slightly obvious one. Don’t go round killing people. That’s not a very nice thing to do really... okay so maybe there’s a bit more to this than meets the eye. In 1 John 3:15, Jesus says that ‘Anyone who hates a brother or sister is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life residing in him’ (NIV). Think it through I guess... should you really hate someone for a little thing they've done? If you do, Jesus states that you have committed a sin as bad as murder.
7. You shall not commit adultery. Don’t cheat on your partner – This seems to have been made slightly normal. People break up or get divorced because someone went off with a new guy/girl. This just seems to happen way too often, but it can really damage people. People lose trust. Relationships break down. If the couple have children together, the children may see this as a normal thing to do, and end up doing it themselves. They might feel as though their parent doesn't love them. As well as this, Jesus says to us in the Bible that if you even look at a woman (or man) lustfully, you have already committed adultery in the heart. Think about the way you’re looking at people, as well as the way you’re getting people to look at you – don’t encourage people to look at you lustfully. It’s pretty unfair on the people looking at you as they’re being dragged into sin without being able to put up much of a fight.
8. You shall not steal. As much as we like to think ‘I don’t steal – I've never dressed in black and broken into someone’s house to take their TV', I feel like there is a bit more to this. It could be a little thing: finding a ring with no apparent owner and taking it, taking the odd lose hair band left in the bowl at Primark, taking some change from your parents without them knowing so you can go out. They don’t seem like a big deal, but to God it is. He says not to steal, so why do we think there are exceptions?
9. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour. Don’t lie is basically what this one is saying. This is the bit where the whole ‘white lies’ thing gets its foot in it. A white lie seems so harmless, but just because they seem harmless doesn't really mean that they aren't harmless. It’s so easy to just say the odd lie to ‘make life easier’, but then you have to go along with that lie. You have to remember what you've said to whom. Before you know it you've gotten yourself into a right mess and this can harm your mental well-being as well as your relationships. Even simpler than this, you could tell a little lie to someone who then gets very upset by it. This could ruin your relationship. Is it really worth avoiding honesty for the chance that you might get away with making up a fake story? This commandment also applies to stories that are exaggerated or edited slightly to make it more interesting etc. This is still lying. It’s still going against God even if you think it’s not.
10. You shall not covet. You shouldn't be letting yourself be jealous of other people, their possessions, their lives. It could be anything at all, but you shouldn't ‘yearn to posses’ these things. God has given you everything you need and wanting more is kind of like saying to him that what he’s given isn't enough. It is enough. It can be so hard to realise and fully understand that, but that’s something God can help with if you ask. Some people have worked really hard to get what they have. Coveting what they have and wanting instant gratification is not right. You need to work hard to get these things. You need to be proud of people when they work hard, rather than being jealous and wanting what they have.
I really hope this helps you to think a bit more about your actions, words and thoughts. I'm not saying through this that it will be easy to stick to these – as I said before, we’re unfinished and a work in progress. Changes like this take time but they are so worth it!
