FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 15
Exodus 19:10-20:6
Leviticus 11:44-45

“For I am the
LORD your God.”

THE FIRST AND SECOND COMMANDMENTS AND YOU

God’s presence, accompanied by great and fearful sights at Mount Sinai, affirmed the significance of the Ten Commandments as the moral law. We must remember that though the ceremonial and civil laws are not applicable to us today, this moral law still stands. It is referred to by Christ (Matt 22:37-40) and the Apostles (e.g. Rom 13:9; Eph 6:2-3) in the New Testament. True believers delight in keeping the moral law because our lives will then please God.

The First Commandment emphasizes that God is the only living and true God because all other gods are false. You must obey His commandments simply because He is God! He is to be believed, obeyed, and feared as you walk humbly before Him. He is the Sovereign God. When you disobey His commandments, you despise Him. It is a terrible, daring provocation to put any gods before Him. You must exalt, esteem, reverence, and honour Him as the infinite and almighty God. It is wonderful to trust, love, and adore Him! The Second Commandment stresses the purity of worship. It forbids both the making of images of idols and the bowing down to them to worship and serve them. God is a Spirit. He is infinite. Crafting any image to represent Him immediately demotes Him to a god of our imagination and making. You must not have any superstitious dependence upon any crosses, statues of Jesus, or of angels. Any desire to “help you focus and remind you of God” is an excuse, and is to be rejected. Your children will pick up your idols and God will judge their idolatry too. But He promises mercy to those who love Him and keep His commandments. You may not have physical idols, but beware of the unseen ones in your heart that steal your heart from Him. It could be a person, your studies, your job, or your family. “Whatever weakens your reason, impairs the tenderness of your conscience, obscures your sense of God, or takes off your relish for spiritual things … whatever increases the strength and authority of your body over your mind; that thing is sin …” (Susanna Wesley).

THOUGHT: What takes first place in my heart?
PRAYER: Help me to honour and worship Thee aright, my LORD.