God's Top Ten Commandments

"​​So speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty." (James 2:12)

In a "Family Circus" comic strip Billy the oldest son is standing holding a closed Bible and says, "Who wants to hear me recite God's top Ten Commandments?"

God's Ten Commandments can be considers His "top ten", because those ten, teach us how we should be to God and man. Now these Commandments are not what we live by in order to earn salvation, but they are to be a guide for our life, if we know Christ.

The first 4 show us how to honor and serve God. Take a look:

1st: "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me."

2nd: "You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. You shall not bow down to them or serve them, for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children to the third and the fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing steadfast love to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments."

3rd: "You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain, for the LORD will not hold him guiltless who takes his name in vain."

4th: "Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy."

(Exodus 20:2-11)

The last 6 show us how to interact with our family and neighbors. 

5th: "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you."

6th: "You shall not murder.

7th: "You shall not commit adultery."

8th: "You shall not steal."

9th: "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor."

10th: "You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor's."

(Exodus 20:12-17)

Imagine if all people lived out to the best they could these Commandments. It would truly be a different world, just if they lived it out on their own. But these are not meant to be lived out on our own. When we come to Christ for salvation and allow Him to lead our life living through us as the Holy Spirit, He lives these out through us. 

But some say that these Commandments are not important, in the age of the New Testament and the "Law of Liberty" that we live under today, due to salvation. 

But Jesus took them very seriously.

 When asked by a Pharisee, "What is the great commandment in the Law?"

Jesus replied:

"You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets."

(Matthew 22:37-40)

Jesus gave them a summery of the 10 Commandments. He went on to say that these Commandments are what the Law and all of scripture is based on. Our love and obedience to God and our love and treatment of our neighbor. 

So are they important? Yes! We should, as Christians, "speak and so act as those who are to be judged under the law of liberty" (James 2:12) and also be able to recite "God's top Ten Commandments", knowing them will help you better live by them. 

Vern