The Ten II

Rom.6:¹⁶ (ERV) “Surely you know that you become the slaves of whatever you give yourselves to. Anything or anyone you follow will be your master. You can follow sin, or you can obey God. Following sin brings spiritual death, but obeying God makes you right with him.”

Every one of the Ten Commandments introduces a struggle. Every Commandment exposes a battle in us that everyone must wrestle with and that battle can be summed up as “Me or Jesus?” Every one of these Ten Commandments is an eternal struggle of man. However, like we learnt, when you come to Christ the law is written in your heart and it becomes possible for you to obey; but these battles are real.

The first commandment, “You shall have no other gods apart from Me”, introduces the Battle with God. The second commandment, “You shall not make idols”, exposes the Battle with Worship. The third commandment, “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain”, introduces the Battle with Religion. The fourth commandment, Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy, exposes the Battle with Time. The fifth commandment, “Honour your father and your mother”, reveals the Battle with Authority. The sixth commandment, “You shall not murder”, exposes the Battle with Peace.

The seventh commandment, “You shall not commit adultery”, introduces the Battle with Purity. Everybody has to battle and overcome it. The eighth commandment, “You shall not steal”, introduces the Battle with Integrity. Everybody will face the battle with integrity but you will pass, in Jesus Name. The ninth commandment, “You shall not bear false witness against your neighbour”, exposes the Battle with Truth. And the tenth commandment, “You shall not covet”, introduces us to the Battle with Contentment. Over the next couple of weeks, we will be examining each of these battles closely.

Our battle with God: Ex.20:³ “You must not have any other god but me.”-  When we begin to flirt with other ideas and other “gods”, then we begin to open our hearts to the enemy and to things that God has not put in us. A classic example would be a lady that says, ‘God, You know I have been a good girl all my life. If you do not perform on my request for a husband before the end of the year, I cannot guarantee what will happen next.’

Prayer: Father, as I encounter the battle of “me or Jesus” daily, help me to always choose Jesus no matter what, in Jesus Name. Amen!