Ten Commandments: Not arbitrary

And so we start one of the most famous passages in the Bible:  The ten commandments. 

I kind of flirted with the idea of just giving a brief overview of them but decided they were important enough to give a lot more attention to them.  So I’ll be covering them over the next week or so.

God starts the passage by reminding the people of who he is.  That he was the one who rescued them from slavery in Egypt. 

Why did God start by saying this? 

I think he wanted the Israelites to remember that he really loved them and wanted the best for them.

So many times, people look at God’s laws and commands, and they think that God is just trying to keep them from having fun. 

Or sometimes they think that his ways are purely arbitrary. 

“Why can’t I just sleep with my girlfriend before I get married?  I love her, right?” 

Or in the context of the Israelites, “Why do we have all these dietary laws?  Why can I eat a cow, but I can’t eat a pig?”

But God’s laws and commands are never arbitrary. 

He always has a reason, and when he gave these laws to the Israelites, he did it because of his love for them. 

He loved them so much that he heard their cries in Egypt and worked wonders in order to set them free from a life of slavery. 

And now he wanted them to have a life where they could enjoy a relationship with him and with the people around them. 

But if they were to have a good relationship with God and others, they couldn’t keep doing things their own way. 

By doing things their own way, they ended up hurting God and hurting the people around them. 

And so God gave them these laws and commands.

So as we look at the basis of these ten commandments, the thing we need to remember is that they were not given in order to make us miserable. 

They were not given just because God had the power to give them and make us obey. 

They were given because God loves us and wants the best for us. 

Just as God showed his love for the Israelites by setting them free from slavery to the Egyptians and making them his people, God has set us free from slavery to Satan’s kingdom, and has now adopted us as his children. 

And if we truly know the love of God in our lives, as John wrote, “his commands are not burdensome.”

Do you find the commands of God burdensome in your life? 

Then go back to the cross.  Remember all that Jesus did for you.  Remember his love for you. 

And remember that his commands are never arbitrary. 

They’re all based on his love for you.