# 10 Commandments

What you want in your heart matters just as much as what you have in your hand—and sometimes even more so.If you want a true inventory of the things you really want, just track your emotions. Those feelings of delight that arise as things come into view are your tell-tale signs. They signal each and every want and desire of your heart to one degree or another.And…most things can be innocent in and of themselves.There is nothing wrong with viewing…

I have heard some of the malicious things said about me over the years. I know that some of those lies and half-truths are still floating around out there. But the older I get, the less I seem to be concerned about them. Some people are never going to like me, and there may not be much I can do about what they say. All I can do is reflect upon the situation, learn what I can, and add no…

If it were today, my dear old mum would have had me taken from her home for the hiding she gave me for stealing grapes from an empty lot. I was ceremoniously told, “Go out to the hedge and get a stick.” You never brought back one that was oversized, for obvious reasons, but you never brought back one that was undersized either. Forcing her hand meant that she got to choose – that was just adding extra pain to…

I used to visit a man who didn’t have long to live. His first wife, and her new husband (now friend), were regular visitors. They spoke comfortably about their young years. The wasted youth, the unholy marriage, and the divorce. Nothing was hidden. He had laid his sins out before God and man; he was ready. They were three souls, contented, but scarred, friends in the midst of pending death. The wife said to me later, “You know, if I…

Those opposed to the death penalty are sometimes seen waving placards stating: “Thou shalt not kill.” They reason that: “If it is against the 10 Commandments, then who is the government that they should be putting people to death?”As sincere as most of these good people are, they are misrepresenting the Sixth Commandment.Modern translations have cleared up some of the confusion by translating the command as “You shall not murder.” It does not prohibit capital punishment. In fact, God bestows…

God’s Fifth Commandment was speaking to the cradle of Israelite society—the Home!Israel were not permitted to tolerate contemptuous behaviour in children. Imagine being there on a day when this took place:“If any man has a stubborn and rebellious son…then his father and mother shall seize him, and bring him out to the elders of his city…and say…‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey us, he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ Then all the men…

Nehemiah put Jerusalem into lockdown on the Sabbath Days. He threatened force against the foreign businessmen assembled outside the gates. They were all set to do business when the gates were opened on the first day of the week. Nehemiah knew the Sabbath Law went beyond the people. It was a blessing of rest for man and beast alike. It was God’s holy day; founded when He ceased from creating the heavens and the earth.Many in generations past called Sunday…

I’m sure we agree, despite all temptation, that calling the wrath of God down upon others is ill-advised. Jesus’ words, (slightly adjusted by our parents): “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone,” causes sober minds to pause to reflect first upon their possible part in the use of God’s name in vain. Tragically, the entertainment industry is a veritable sewer of blaspheme. It constantly pours forth its filth into our homes, cars and headphones through movies and…

Catholicism was the religion of my birth. Until my early teens I attended Masses regularly and became an Altar Boy for a brief period. One of the things I remember most about sitting in the Catholic Church was the statues. I had been especially taught the significance of ‘The Virgin Mary.’ I was told on more than one occasion that Mary would intercede on my behalf before God, because she is the ‘Mother of God.’ This was vital doctrine. And…

It must be like living through your own personal horror scene to wake up one morning to realize that the ‘god’ you have been worshiping was a figment of someone else’s imagination. The only thing that to turn this curse into a blessing, is if it is discovered while meeting the One true God.Only then will the wasted time, effort and resources be placed into the gracious hands of the One who “causes all things to work together for good”…