Making Good Choices - Ten WordsНамуна

In this reading plan, we will be looking at a code to help us make good choices, both personally and for our family, business, and society.

One of the most famous sections in the Bible, indeed, one of the most important pieces of religious literature in the whole world, can be found in Exodus 20, often called the Ten Commandments. Interestingly, history does not call them ’The Ten Commandments,’ but ‘The Ten Words.'

These ‘Ten Words’ that God gave the Israelites at Mount Sinai, form the basis for making right choices. They form the foundation on which we can make right practical, moral, and ethical decisions.

These ‘Ten Words’ are the only utterances of God which were actually written personally with His own fingers! They reflect divine ideals for all human behaviour. They serve to point out the major areas in which we fall short. Want to know pitfalls along the way? The Ten Words are markers near the harbour, or buoys in a sea, to help us navigate around the dangerous rocks and bring us safely home. They serve to point us to Christ, the Author and Perfecter of our faith.

Before listing the ‘ought-to-dos,' we have to address the ‘already-dones.’ In the introduction to the Ten Words, we hear how deliverance by the mighty hand of God provided freedom for more than two million souls. In freedom, they were called to live holy, righteous, and obedient lives.

“I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” (Exodus 20:2)

We have been set free by Jesus Christ, to love and serve Him and our neighbours. Our freedom as disciples will be maintained by following His Words.

“If you abide in my word, you aretruly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”(John 8:32) 

I was astounded last week to hear of a former aide to the US president talk about ‘alternative truth.’ In other words, she meant that her truth was just as valid as your truth. This is anarchy, the absence of authority. This leads us into the first of the Ten Words, which establishes the source of truth and authority – 

“You shall have no other gods but me.’ 

Next time: Word #1: Focus.