“And God spake all these words, saying, I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.”
~Exodus 20:1-2
THERE IS NOTHING more practical for us to recover in our day than a biblical understanding of love and righteousness. And the Law of God shows us what love and righteousness looks like in specific circumstances and demonstrates what it means to love and live righteously because the Law of God reflects the character of God. Therefore, a proper understanding of God’s Law is essential for a healthy Christian life. Exodus 19 teaches us that the Law of God is founded in grace and our obedience to the Law is the expression of our love to God and man. Jesus said in Matthew 22:37-40, “You shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart, with all of your soul, with all of your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”
JESUS DEFINED LOVE as keeping God’s Commandments, yet we live in a culture where there is great hostility to the Commandments of God. Just think how the public schools and the courts in our country fight vigorously to banish the Ten Commandments from the public arena. Think how Chief Justice Roy Moore was put on trial in his own courtroom in August 2001 for refusing to remove a 5,280-pound block of granite with the Ten Commandments engraved on it from the courtyard of the Alabama Supreme Court building.
EVEN WITHIN THE church you will find professing Christians who say that the Ten Commandments were for Israel in the Old Testament and are of no use for Christians today. And if you’re found quoting the words of Psalm 119:97, “Oh, how I love thy law! It is my meditation all day long”, you’ll be called a legalist. And yet the psalmist’s greatest expression of love towards God was to say, “Oh, how I love thy law, O Lord.” What about you? How do you view the Ten Commandments? Do you say with the psalmist, “Oh, how I love thy law! It is my meditation all day long”, or do you find the Commandments of God restrictive, harsh, and something to be left in the Old Testament? Take time today to read and meditate upon the Commandments of God because “The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul; the testimony of the LORD is sure, making wise the simple…” (Psalm 19:7).
Friday Devotional: September 27, 2024
In Christ,
Pastor S. Henry