Food for thought:
What if we applied the same “standard” to all the commandments that some believers apply to the Sabbath commandment? The standard goes something like this: It doesn’t matter which day of the week you honor as the Sabbath, so long as you honor a Sabbath day. With that same standard applied, the Ten Commandments might look something like this:
Seems a little ridiculous, doesn’t it. However, if we look at our society, we can quickly see the ramifications of this exact mentality. It’s a slippery slope when we start applying our own standards to God’s Word, isn’t it? Romans 1:25 puts it this way:
What if we applied the same “standard” to all the commandments that some believers apply to the Sabbath commandment? The standard goes something like this: It doesn’t matter which day of the week you honor as the Sabbath, so long as you honor a Sabbath day. With that same standard applied, the Ten Commandments might look something like this:
- You shall have no other gods before me – after me, that’s okay.
- It doesn’t matter what images you make of me, just make sure they’re not graven.
- You shall not take one of the names of the Lord your God in vain…you pick which one and keep that one sacred.
- It doesn’t matter which day of the week you remember and keep as holy. Just pick one.
- Honor your father and mother…If you don’t like the ones you were born to, pick someone else to call Dad and Mom and honor them instead.
- You shall not murder. However, selectively taking defenseless lives is acceptable, as a matter of choice.
- Don’t commit adultery against your spouse; someone else’s spouse is fair game. (So, if you’re not married yet, stay that way and have a good ol’ time!)
- You shall not steal…borrowing without the intention of returning, that’s okay though.
- You shall not bear false witness – unless it is to their (or your) benefit/advantage.
- Covet anything that doesn’t belong to your neighbor.
Seems a little ridiculous, doesn’t it. However, if we look at our society, we can quickly see the ramifications of this exact mentality. It’s a slippery slope when we start applying our own standards to God’s Word, isn’t it? Romans 1:25 puts it this way:
Romans 1:25
“And they have changed the truth of God for lies, and worshipped and served the created things more than their Creator to whom belong glory and blessings forever. Amen.”
In stubbornness of heart, we see God’s people (us!) repeatedly being admonished for applying their own standards to His Word instead of His standards to their life.
Jeremiah 9:13-15
“The LORD said, ‘Because they have forsaken My law which I set before them, and have not obeyed My voice nor walked according to it, but have walked after the stubbornness of their heart and after the Baals, as their fathers taught them,’ therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, ‘behold, I will feed them, this people, with wormwood and give them poisoned water to drink.’”
Psalms 81 coveys the heart of our Father so well:
Psalm 81:11-13
"But My people did not listen to My voice, And Israel did not obey Me. So I gave them over to the stubbornness of their heart, To walk in their own devices. Oh that My people would listen to Me, That Israel would walk in My ways!”
Shalom Aleichem!
The H.U.B.
The H.U.B.