A Slippery Slope

The book of Exodus describes for us that body of law that is best known as “The Ten Commandments”.

Each commandment is about relationships.

Some are about our relationship with God.

The rest are about our relationship with others.

Although I have read these commandments a number of times over the years, my thoughts lately seem to keep turning to one in particular.

Exodus 20:17 (NET) - "You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet you neighbor's wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that belongs to your neighbor."


I think there are two reasons why my thoughts keep turning to this one in particular.

First, failure to keep this commandment can cause us to break additional commandments that damage relationships with others..

For example, a man who covets his neighbor's possession could be more easily tempted to steal that possession.

Second, a breach of this commandment can seriously damage our relationship with God.

God expects to have top priority in our lives.

In coveting something so badly, a man can displace God from His rightful place and give that which is coveted priority instead.

When that happens, a man is guilty of committing idolatry.

If you think about it, covetousness is what led to the Fall in the Garden of Eden.

Genesis 3:4-5 (NET) - The serpent said to the woman, "Surely you will not die, for God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be open and you will be like divine beings who know good and evil."


Eve and consequently Adam desired to be like God.

God is the creator and man is but the created.

It was this unnatural desire of being like God that caused their expulsion from Eden.

By acting on this impulse, the relationship between mankind and God was forever changed.

Things are certainly not any easier today.

Think about how much of the world's economy is based on the act of coveting.

What would happen to the economy if people stopped desiring more extravagant possessions than their neighbor has?

Almost every television commercial and printed advertisement is aimed at this particular human weakness that has been present in every generation.

Even some of the television programs themselves now serve as case studies in greed.

It may not be easy to avoid covetousness, but there is someone we can turn to to help us overcome it.

Hebrews 2:18 (NET) - For since He Himself suffered when He was tempted, He is able to help those who are tempted.


That is a promise we can count on.

We cannot escape temptation completely.

Such is the nature of both man and the world we live in.

Yet with His help we can overcome it.


Blessings,
Jim Pokorny
The Other Brother Jim
http://otherbrotherjim.blogspot.com

Idle Worship

Exodus 20:3 (NET) - You shall have no other Gods before Me.

In the ten commandments, God is very clear about how he feels when it comes to idolatry.

God both rightfully expects and demands to be first in our lives.

But what constitutes idolatry?

While Moses was up on Mount Sinai, the people convinced Aaron to make a calf out of gold so that they could worship it.

Exodus 32:4 (NET) - He accepted the gold from them, fashioned it with an engraving tool, and made a molten calf. Then they said, "These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of Egypt."

It does not take a tremendous leap to see that the creation and worship of this man made calf was in direct disobedience to this commandment.

There are other examples in scripture as well.

Isaiah 44:15 (NET) - A man uses it to make a fire; he takes some of it and warms himself. Yes, he kindles a fire and bakes bread. Then he makes a god and worships it; he makes an idol and bows down to it.

Again, no tremendous leap is required to see that this is also a form of idolatry.

Unfortunately, not all forms of idolatry are so clear cut.

This is especially true today when the demands on our resources are so great.

This is especially true with the resource of time.

With all the demands on our time, it sometimes becomes all to easy to put God on the back burner, so to say, and assume He will be there waiting patiently for us to get caught up with all of our other commitments first.

The plain and simple truth is anytime we put anything or anyone ahead of God, we are in fact practicing a form of idolatry and our worship becomes "idle worship".

Perhaps it is a possession. Perhaps it is something seemingly benign such as a career, a spouse or even our children.

Does that mean we are not to provide for our families?

Absolutely not.

Scripture is very clear about that.

1 Timothy 5:8 (NET) - But if someone does not provide for his own; especially his own family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.

Even though we are called upon to provide for our families, we must not do so at the risk of displacing God from His place of prominence.

When Jesus was asked what the most important commandment was, He gave two answers.

Mark 12:29-31 (NET) - Jesus answered, "The most important is: ‘Listen, Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these."

Jesus naturally understood that the commandments were about relationships. The first commandments dealt with our relationship to God. The remainder dealt with our relationship with others. His response meant that if we could keep these two commitments, we could not help but keep all ten commandments.

He also understood their specific priorities.

In other words, we are to keep God first.

In today’s fast paced and demanding world, it becomes all to easy to lose sight of that.

Yet if we remember to keep God first in our lives, something truly amazing happens.

God then helps us put everything else in proper perspective.


Blessings,
Jim Pokorny
The Other Brother Jim
http://otherbrotherjim.blogspot.com/