Word of the Week: Commandments

“Life is a lot like a minefield,” wrote my favorite author anonymous.

What Mr. Anon meant is that minefields are incredibly dangerous places. Of course, the danger lurks in not knowing where the mines are planted. However, if a soldier had a detailed map of a minefield showing where a mine is located, the infantry could walk through unscathed.

I understand the military has specialists whose job is to locate these mines. Using high-tech methods, they locate the mines and plant a small flag by them. When the troops march through the area they know where to step and more importantly where not to step!

Thankfully, God has placed warning flags on spiritual and moral mine fields identifying crucial decisions and destructive choices. They are called commandments.

To highlight the importance of God’s commandments, some form of the word is found almost 500 times in the Bible. Here are 7 things I know about the commandments of the Lord.

(1) God wants us to understand and learn His commandments.

In Psalm 119 David often speaks of his desire to know the commandments of the Lord. “Your hands have made and fashioned me; give me understanding that I may learn your commandments (Ps 119:73). God does not excuse ignorance. He revealed His Word so we could know Him and understand His ordinances.

(2) When we delight in the commandments of God, He blesses us.

“Blessed is the man who fears the Lord,” penned the Psalmist, “Who delights greatly in His commandments (Ps 122:1). Life’s true joy and pleasure is found in obeying God.

(3) The commandments of the Lord are true.

“You are near, O Lord, And all Your commandments are truth” (Ps 119:151).

The noun form, “commandments” is used 181 times in the Old Testament and “often speaks to a body of laws given by divine revelation.” In every age God has given commandments to mankind.  They are Truth. As newsman Ted Koppel once said in a commencement address, “What Moses brought down from Mount Sinai were not the Ten Suggestions, they are commandments.”

(4) Love for the Lord is demonstrated by keeping His commandments.

It’s often argued that love is more important than worrying about rules. But Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep My commandments” (Jn 14:15).

(5) Really knowing God, abiding in Him and enjoying a relationship with Him is impossible apart from keeping His commandments.

John, the great apostle of love, expressed it this way several times in his letters. “Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His commandments. He who says, “I know Him,” and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the truth is not in him. (I Jn 2:3-5)

The only way we can know the will of God, walk with God and be right with God is by knowing what He commands and then doing it.

(6) Keeping the commandments of God is not a burden but a blessing.

We should not look at God’s commandments as a cumbersome weight that inhibits our spirituality. They are not an impediment to our progress . Or a hindrance to our happiness.

“For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His commandments are not burdensome” (1 Jn 5:3)

(7) If we want to enter into heaven, we must respect and obey the commandments of  God.

Jesus said to the rich young ruler who inquired what he needed to do to enter into eternal life, “Keep the commandments.” And he soon learned from the Lord that keeping the commandments was more than a check list or simply avoiding some “thou shalt nots” (Matt 19:17-22).

Pleasing God and obeying His commandments involves godly motives, right actions, righteous relationships and providing for the needs of others

In the last chapter of the final book of the Bible we’re reminded, “Blessed are those who do His commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life, and may enter through the gates into the city” (Rev. 22:12).

Follow the red flags God has placed through the mine field of life. They will guide you safely home. To heaven.

–Ken Weliever, The Preacherman