10th Commandment

You decide to take a leisurely drive one evening. You feel adventurous and you go out to drive through a few towns that you've never really been to before. You enter into a nice neighborhood that slowly winds back further away from the heart of the town. It's not long before you start passing some very nice homes. Now these aren't your typical 3 bedroom, 2 story homes. You pass some lots that are a solid 2 acres deep with driveways anywhere from 50 to 150 yards long. The homes are just magnificent. Most of them are 7,000 plus square foot with at least 1 swimming pool and 4-5 car garages.

You can't help but to feel that little tug on your conscience. It's saying..."These are nice, I'd like to have one of these." In fact, the longer you drive down the road, the more you begin to do a self-evaluation. You begin to think about why you don't have the luck, brains, fame, or money to have something like this.

All of your inner thoughts are swirling because you are totally entranced by the enormity and beauty of these small mansions. You begin to think, "Wow, these people are really lucky, I wish that I could have something like this."

After you turn back toward home, you generally might have one of three reactions.

1) You are upset or depressed because you feel that you've been slighted
2) You feel thankful for the things that you have
3) It motivates you to work harder

For the purposes of this posting I'm going to focus on Option 1, as it correlates directly back to the 10th Commandment:

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's. Exodus20:17

The word "covet" means - "to wish" or "to desire"

In a nutshell it is Envy.

The 10th commandment is arguably one of the most difficult to follow in the times we live in. Our entire world revolves around money and materialistic things. Somehow it's gotten to be the "in thing" to have nice cars, a big home, fancy clothes, or the newest tech gadget. All of these things might be nice in the eyes of men, but I'd ask how are they used to give glory to God?

I'm not saying that having any of these things is a bad thing. But, it's something that we must carefully manage so these things do not consume our lives and become our priority. There is not a single item that a person has that God doesn't allow them to possess. All of our possessions are 'on loan'. We don't own them, God does. And in the blink of an eye and by His Will, He can take them away or multiply them tenfold.

Let's try to remember to give thanks everyday for the things that God has blessed us with. I promise you there are so many people in a far worse situations.

To put things into perspective:

Approx 3-5 % of the worlds population have internet access. And only about 25% of the worlds population sleep in their own bed at night and only about 30% of the worlds population are rich enough to have a bank account.

Final Thoughts

In retrospect, the 10th Commandment is really the first stop on the "sin express". By the word "express" I mean that it will take you down quickly...and once you hop on board, don't expect to get off anytime soon. Envy will lead to greed. Greed could lead to lying, selfishness, or theft...and these could lead to far worse things.

The next time you are in a situation where you start to feel envious, stop for a moment to tell God about the top 2 or 3 things that you are most thankful for.

Let's remember to have patience and enjoy the gifts that God has given us. We never know how long He's going to allow us to keep these gifts, or when He will ultimately call us home to final judgment.

God bless you. And this is for His Glory!

Putting yourself in God's shoes

A man's wisdom gives him patience; it is to his glory to overlook an offense.
Proverbs 19:11

We've all been there...

We've all had our moments when "enough was enough" and we've lashed out in frustration, anger, or even physical action. It might have been to a friend, loved one or even a stranger. But never-the-less we acted in a manner directly opposite of what God expects from us. There are countless stories where someone was victimized, either physically or emotionally and the perpetrator got away with it. Sadly, this is the world we live in...where our hearts, minds, philosophies, and goals are constantly influenced by the enemy.

4The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
2 Corinthians 4:4

What we must remember is that patience is of great importance to our spiritual growth. It's really easy for us to be the 'poster child' for patience when everything is going our way. The true test of tolerance comes when we struggle with events that greatly irritate us. Each and every one of us has a "button" or multiple "buttons" that once pushed, trigger irritation, anger, irrational behavior, and possibly even violence.

So, how do you think God feels when we sin and disobey His word? Sin is a direct offense and irritant to God...and He deals with it countless times a day AND has dealt with it since the dawn of time. I don't think we can even begin to fathom the amount of patience and love that our God has for us if we think about how frustrating it must be to watch the things that we do each and every day.

Can you imagine your son, daughter or a close loved one constantly disobeying you? It can be very frustrating and lead to actions that we later regret. Some people even go so far as to disown or even murder their their own blood out of anger or frustration. The bible tells us that we will have trials on this earth...

"In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
John 16:33

And it is through the victory of these trials that we will grow and teach others...

3Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, 4who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God. 5For just as the sufferings of Christ flow over into our lives, so also through Christ our comfort overflows
Corinthians 1:3-5

Final thoughts:
The next time we get angry, feel frustration or discomfort about a particular situation let's try to think about how God has felt with us throughout our lifetime. Think about all the mistakes that we've made and how He's forgiven us and permitted us to learn and grow from our mistakes. How easily would it have been for Him to strike us down and be done with it. But, He does not, for He is a loving and forgiving God.

Let us have patience with one another as God has had patience with us. Then let us use these lessons to teach others around us, for some of the greatest acts come from sharing what we have learned so that others may not stumble as harshly.

25Those who oppose him he must gently instruct, in the hope that God will grant them repentance leading them to a knowledge of the truth, 26and that they will come to their senses and escape from the trap of the devil, who has taken them captive to do his will.
2 Timothy 2:25-27

To save your soul, you must save a soul

God bless you. And this is for His Glory!

Patience and Proverbs

It’s natural for human beings to make uneducated judgments or assumptions based solely upon a person’s outward appearance. For without truly knowing what’s in the heart of another, evaluation and supposition through perception is what we default to.

But this is not the case with the Lord. For our Lord and Savior knows what’s in our hearts and minds.

⁷ But the LORD said to Samuel, "Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him. The LORD does not look at the things man looks at. Man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart."

1 Samuel 16:7 (NIV)

How many times have you made a quick judgment of someone without giving them the benefit of the doubt? I remember one time back in college I met a guy who was a friend of a friend. He came off as arrogant, obnoxious and sarcastic and it didn’t take very long for me to realize that not only did I not like him, but I wanted to fight him (forgive me, but I’m being honest). Over the course of time, I got to know this person a little better each day. Eventually, he became one of my closest friends at school and to this day we still keep in touch every now and again.

¹¹ A man's wisdom gives him patience;
it is to his glory to overlook an offense.

Proverbs 19:11 (NIV)

Therefore, my message is this…be patient with one another and remember to not prematurely judge others, least you be judged the same way. God knows what’s in our hearts and minds and He cannot be fooled by outward appearance or deception. The Lord has given us scripture as His commands to follow. We must try to remember that every action we take should be to glorify God. For God is pleased when we are righteous and obey Him. However, sin is a direct insult to God and we will be accountable for all of our transgressions. Therefore, Lord, I pray that we are made wise by the Holy Spirit and remember to remain humble and patient with others. Amen.

I’ll leave you with one final verse from the book of Proverbs.

²³ Guard your heart above all else,
for it determines the course of your life.

Proverbs 4:23 (NLT)

God bless you. And this is for His Glory!