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June 3, 2012

INSTANT MESSAGE: The Ten Commandments - One

By CRAIG HARRIS Palestine Herald-Press The Palestine Herald-Press Sun Jun 03, 2012, 01:43 AM CDT

The Ten Commandments - One

Exodus 20: 1-3 (NIV): And God spoke all these words: "I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.”

Are the Ten Commandments still relevant today?Must we still follow them? God is so good to us. He gives us our very lives. He holds our next breath in his hands. He takes care of us and answers our prayers. He offers paradise for all eternity if we will only put our trust in him. But, in return, he makes specific demands on us. These are not suggestions; God was not kidding when he gave these commands. Remember, God has every right to do this.

But, as we will see, our lives are so much better, so much richer if we follow these Commandments. They are not random rules that keep us from enjoying our lives. Quite the contrary, all of our relationships will be better and our lives will be richer if we will follow them.

I believe we must know the Ten Commandments. We must know them and understand them. Then we can follow them and please God with our lives. Then we can live the abundant life he offers.

This first Commandment begins it all. It must begin here or we will never follow the others. God told Israel that he and only he is to be their God. Back then, there were named gods all around and it was a temptation to run after and worship them for whatever reason. Today, it is still a temptation, but the gods we run after may have different names, like money or fame or popularity or power or pleasure or comfort or even family.

God says we must not put anything above him. We must not love anything or anyone more than we love him. We must not worship anything or anyone other than him. Instead of giving God our left-overs, we give him first place in our lives. Jesus said it like this, “To love God with all of our hearts and souls and minds and strength.” God demands that he be our one and only god. Why does God want this from us? The Bible says God created us for his pleasure. He wants a relationship with us. He wants to be our god and he wants us to love him with all of our hearts. When we obey this first Commandment, we are simply fulfilling why we are here in the first place.

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Craig Harris is an author and minister. Contact him at lcraigharris@gmail.com. To see more, go to www.instantmessagelive.com.

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