IT IS WRITTEN
For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
1 John 5:3
For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.
1 John 5:3
When Israel was a child I loved him,
and I called my son out of Egypt. But the more I called, the further they went away from me; they offered sacrifice to Baal and burnt incense to idols. I myself taught Ephraim to walk, I myself took them by the arm, but they did not know that I was the one caring for them, that I was leading them with human ties, with leading-strings of love, that, with them, I was like someone lifting an infant to his cheek, and that I bent down to feed him. Hosea 11:1-4 [The New Jerusalem Bible] |
The Decalogue 1
To teach the Ten Commandments as a moral code is to miss their true purpose. We should learn the Ten Commandments as we learn a foreign language, with application and constant repetition. But unlike a foreign language, we soon find that the Ten Commandments are themselves the teacher, and the language they teach is the language of God. The Ten Commandments are the lingua franca through which every heart and soul can enjoy pillow talk with the Maker. The Decalogue 2 The language of love has a grammar, just like any other language. Without grammar, without the rules of language, we could not understand what anyone was saying. If we want to understand what God is saying, if we want to learn his language, we need to learn the grammar. And the grammar is the Ten Commandments. The Decalogue 3 Just as we set about learning any foreign language, we begin learning the Ten Commandments through regular application and constant repetition. But we soon find that the Ten Commandments are themselves the teacher. The more we study them, the more they teach us. They teach us about God and what God wants for us. They also teach us about ourselves and—what a miracle!—in the process reform and reshape us. The Decalogue 4 If the Ten Commandments give us the grammar of the language of Love, the Cross gives us the dictionary. Through the Cross we are given hope that one day we can become native speakers of God’s language. The Decalogue 5 A Benedictine abbot once said that the rule is to love what tracks are to a train. God’s laws are the tracks of love. The Decalogue 6 There may be times when the laws feel restrictive. But, like leading strings, they gift us with the freedom to explore the big wide world safely. That restraining tug should be interpreted as a caution to ‘Watch out!’ Or it might be a reminder, ‘Hey, come back here!’ The Decalogue 7 As it is written, God’s leading strings are leading strings of love. To benefit from them, we have to surrender to them, we have to accept them. By following the law, we in effect put on the brace ourselves and hand the ends of the leading strings to God. The Decalogue 8 The Ten Commandments are like a boat. I see this boat. It is small enough that every plank or timber is essential; discard even just one and the boat takes on water. This boat is keeping me afloat, it is saving me from drowning in rough seas. I hear you say, ‘The law doesn’t save! It is Jesus who saves!’ That is true. And Jesus doesn’t need to cling to the boat they way I do; He can walk on the water. But don’t you see Who is sleeping in the stern, with His head on a pillow? |