Friday, March 11, 2011

CC--10th Commandment: How is it connected to the 0th Commandment?


--"I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”
--"You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife or his male servant or his female servant or his ox or his donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor."
--There’s a beautiful symmetry to these. All the other C’s flow from an error in the preamble, failing to ponder who God is and what he’s done for us, therefore making Him first and foremost in our lives.
--The implied contrast of the preamble is that no one and nothing else has ever done anything like this for you.
--But the real first manifestation of failing to consider God isn’t murder and theft or even breaking the Sabbath. It’s coveting.
--Just as every other major sin starts with failing the 0th one, each of them doesn’t happen immediately or directly, they all begin with heart longings that we indulge until they become actions. --And if you find yourself coveting, look back to God, your deliverer and provider, and remind yourself that He is sovereign over your life and to not worry about it. Then, go serve your neighbor and rejoice in his successes as a way of showing that you trust God and His ways of building community and acquiring the true riches of living and loving as He does.
--So this bookends the whole list and reminds us that just as all sin begins with turning away from God, it begins in the heart before it ever reaches the level of a crime action.
--One almost wants to say that the list should both begin AND end with the preamble as a reminder for emphasis.

No comments: