The 10 Commandments
The Ten Commandments
are frequently found in Exodus chapter 20; this is where my study today has
come from and focused on.
1. Thou shalt love the Lord thy
God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind
2. Thou shalt love thy neighbor
as thyself
3. Thou shalt have no other
god’s before me
4. Thou shalt not make unto
thee any graven image (or likeness of anything in heaven or earth- do not serve
them)
5. Thou shalt not take the Lord
thy God in vain (footnote: profanity; sacrilege, swearing) the Lord will not
hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain
6. Remember the Sabbath day, to
keep it holy (not do any work, or employ people who work, the Lord blessed the
Sabbath day and hallowed (sanctified or consecrated) it.
7. Honor thy father and thy
mother
8. Thou shalt not steal
9. Thou shalt not bear false
witness against thy neighbor
10. Thou shalt not covet thy
neighbors house, wife, servants, property, or anything
The two “great”
commandments are to love the Lord with all thy heart, soul, and mind and love
thy neighbor as thyself. According to Matthew 22:40, “ these two commandments
hang all the law and the prophets.”
We show the Lord, our
God, our Father who is in Heaven, that we love him. When we obey the
commandments of the Lord we are showing our appreciation for all that he has
given us. Everything we have is because the God has given that to us. It
is easy to justify us when we disobey or break one of God’s commandments,
especially when the world say’s it is okay or ‘not that bad’. I also hear the
excuse that the specific commandments are ‘old fashioned’ or they don’t apply
anymore. Nothing could be farther from the truth. God’s word is truth and will
always be true and correct. We are to always obey these commandments.
Lately in this world
I feel that no one really cares what God has commanded of us. I agree that not
everybody knows God, but those who do neglect to keep commandments given to us.
I want to expound on three commandments that are often neglected by the world
today.
Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image
A graven image can be many
different things. It is usually something that is very important to the
individual. People do not start off thinking that they are going to ‘make unto
thee any graven image.’ It usually starts off as something important to you
that soon consume your whole life, it becomes the whole purpose of your life
and the things that you do. This thing can also become your idol.
Some examples of graven images
could include; clothes, homes, businesses, machines, automobiles, pleasure
boats, degrees/certificates, school, hunting, sports, and many other things
that cause you to deflect from the path to godhood. Really anything can become
an idol or a graven image. This is why we need to stay humble; we need to
remember what really is important. We need to keep our mind of Heavenly Father
and try our best to focus our lives on Him, not on anything else. It really
comes down to this question: “Whom do you love and worship—yourself or God?” We
need to look at our lives and set our priorities.
We see examples of this everywhere
we go, sometimes we do this consciously and other times it develops without us
realizing it. When you let something rule your life it turns into an idol and
we are neglecting to follow God’s commandments.
Thou shalt not take the Lord thy God in vain
This
is really common in our society. I don’t think that most people realize that we
are commanded not to take his name in Vain. If you look at the footnote in the
book of Exodus of the Bible, we learn that vain means profanity, sacrilege, and
swearing. This has become a habit to so many and I don’t think most people
understand what this means. “…the Lord will not hold him guiltless that taketh
his name in vain.” (Exodus 20:7) Since profanity is so prevalent in our world
today, this is a very important principle to know and live by.
There
are two aspects of this commandment that is important. First, the third commandment
implies that His children must have a deep and reverential attitude about God
and His name. When we take his name in vain it is highly disrespectful. Why
would be disrespect the man who truly has given us everything we have,
everything we know, and everyone we love and care about?
“Profanity is
incompatible with reverence.”
The
second aspect of this commandment is in regards to our baptismal covenants, or
the covenants we make at baptism. When we get baptized we promise, or make a
covenant, that we will take the name of Christ upon us. If we do not do this or
we ‘forget’ to do this, we are taking the Lord’s name in vain. I had not
realized this before. I always just thought of this as saying the phrase, “Oh
my G**.” But when I do not take the name of Christ upon me, what I promised
when I was baptized, I am committed a great sin. This also is in regards with the covenants and promises we
make in the temple. We cannot go to the temple and not have our lives reflect
that.
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s house, wife, servants, property,
or anything
We
should be happy with what we have. This seems like it would be an easy task,
but we all find ourselves jealous of what someone else has. We need to try our
best to refrain from this behavior.
The commandments are all intertwined together. When we break
commandments we are in one way or another tweaking the other commandments. This
commandment is very intertwined with the other commandments.
I
really liked how the scripture study help I use explains this commandment. “It
does not mean that we should not have an honest ambition to have more of the
better things of life. It does not mean that we may not admire what our
neighbor has, and seek by our own industry to earn things of like worth. The
earth holds plenty for all—and the urge to acquire for ourselves such good
things as other men have is a productive quality of character—provided that we
acquire them by honest effort, by lawful means, and by keeping life
well-balanced. The danger comes when mere ‘things’ begin to matter too much.”
This
commandment is hard for this generation I believe. We want to have what
everyone else has and want to have bigger and better things. We need to be
careful and pay attention to why we are doing what we are doing, or
getting what we are getting.
How would the world be different
if all of God’s children kept the commandments?
I am sure that everyone can image this world, and I guarantee all of us
have a different view, because we are all different. This is my opinion. If
everyone truly loved the Lord first and loved their neighbors as thyself our
world not have murder, stealing, drugs, abuse of any kind and no fighting of
any kind. If everyone followed those first two, great commandments, the rest of
the commandments would be obeyed without question. We would keep the Sabbath
day holy, we would honor our parents, we would be happy with what we have and
want to help others out. I think that if all of God’s children kept the
commandments this world would find peace, this world be a good place, and most
of all this world be heaven in literal
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