THE WORD FROM THE TOP

The Word For Today

'I have talked with you from heaven.' Exodus 20:22

When God gave the Ten Commandments to His people, He said, 'I have talked with you from heaven.' In other words, you have 'the Word from the top'. End of discussion. Just do it! That being said, let's spend the next few days looking at how the Ten Commandments apply to you.

1) 'You shall have no other gods before me' (v. 3 NIV). Have you seen the new all-purpose greeting card? The front says, 'Generic card' and the inside reads, 'Happy whatever!' The first commandment was designed to stop us from going through life doing whatever we feel like. It grabs us by the collar and says, 'Hold on, Jesus is supposed to be Lord of your life, so put Him first!'

2) 'You shall not make for yourself an idol' (v. 4 NLT). Now, most of us wouldn't dream of worshiping an idol. But how about your loyalty to things that have no eternal value, like pleasure, power, position and possessions? Isn't that idolatry too? Anything that comes before God is an idol.

3) 'You shall not misuse the name of the Lord your God' (v. 7 NIV). But just because you don't use profanity doesn't mean you honour the name of the Lord. As a believer you must honour God in your speech, your conduct and your attitude. The truth is, you are the only Bible many people will ever read.

Paul writes, 'Clearly, you are a letter from Christ showing the result of our ministry among you. This "letter" is written not with pen and ink, but with the Spirit of the living God' (2 Corinthians 3:3 NLT).