Wholesome Works: The Seventh - Tenth Commandments

The Seventh Commandment

“Thou shalt not commit adultery.”
EXODUS 20:14

God commands us not to commit adultery. Jesus said if we lust after anyone, we commit adultery with them in our hearts (MATT. 5:28). Lust is strongly desiring a person or thing more than we desire God.

I’m guilty of lusting after another person, and only through trusting in God I can overcome all of my misplaced desires.

The Eighth Commandment

“Thou shalt not steal.”
EXODUS 20:15

God commands us not to steal. The value of the object we stole or “borrowed without asking” doesn’t matter. Whether it was a piece of fine art, or a paper clip, it still makes us a thief.

The Ten Commandments give us God‘s standard. Even if I take a penny from the richest man in the world, I need to repent. Without Jesus I would never meet this standard.

The Ninth Commandment

“Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.”
EXODUS 20:16

God commands us not to lie. In God’s eyes, there is never any reason or situation where it is best to lie. In the same way we only need to commit one murder to be a murderer, we only need to lie once, to be a liar. It doesn’t matter how “small” the lie is or how long it has been since we lied, God demands restitution.

I have lied many times, and each time nothing good has resulted from my lies.

The Tenth Commandment

“Thou shalt not covet…”
EXODUS 20:17

God commands us not to desire another person’s things. Not their house, not their spouse, nor their wealth, nor any thing that is theirs.

This commandment is very difficult to keep. The main point of advertising is to make us want what someone else has. I must pray diligently for God to make me content with what I have.

“Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight: for by the law is the knowledge of sin.”
ROMANS 3:19, 20

This study has really challenged me. I have given examples of how someone who has been raised a Christian, in this case myself, can fail to meet these laws. Even if I was somehow able keep all but one of the commandments, the bible says it would be same as if I had broken them all (JAMES 2:10). I also recognize that time doesn’t forgive either, even if you live completely sinless for 70 years or more, you’ll be just as guilty now as you were the last time you sinned.

But the law can’t save; it just tells us we are guilty. The bible says the law is a schoolmaster to bring us to Christ (GAL. 3:24) and as Christians we are no longer under the law (ROM. 6:14). Jesus gave only two commandments in MARK 12:30, 31: “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.”