What if the 10 Commandments weren’t a list of rules meant to stifle your life, but instead designed to set you free? What if the only way to truly be free was to follow God’s law?
Let’s think about that.
The 8th Commandment is “Thou shalt not steal.” If you choose to ignore it, what are the consequences?
Stealing reinforces laziness, which decreases your will to work hard, which then leads to poverty, because you can never steal enough to make a good living. (Figuring out how to steal without getting caught takes a lot of work anyway, so no labor is really being saved.)
Stealing weighs on your conscience like a guilty weight whether you want it to or not, lowering your self-esteem, which in turn makes you insecure and thus less successful in any future endeavor.
Stealing breaks trust and relationships. Inevitably, people around you will know about it. Not only your victim will be hurt and turn away from you, but all your friends will grow to distrust you as well.
Eventually, the only “friends” you have will be other thieves or people with different bad morals – and none of you will trust each other, so you won’t have any true intimacy.
Stealing will also eventually land you in jail. Of course, prison takes your freedom away literally, but it doesn’t end there. When you get out, and for many, many years after, you will struggle to get a decent-paying job. No one wants to hire a thief.
In other words, refusing to obey the 8th Commandment will land you in slavery. You will lose your physical freedom and struggle with poverty for much of your life. It will take years to build your way out of that, regaining people’s trust.
On the other hand, obeying God’s Law is the path to true freedom.
Choosing to never steal at any cost causes you to rely on hard work for your provision, which then leads to prosperity. Those around you will trust you as a person of integrity. This will not only give you friendships galore, but opportunities in any arena you desire.
Of course, this is true for all of God’s commandments.
Choosing to never commit adultery frees you from a broken marriage and allows your children to grow up feeling blessed. It frees you to have the opportunity to grow old alongside someone you care about. It frees you from lonely desperation late in life. (7th Commandment)
Choosing to never covet another person’s spouse (or lust in general) frees you to have a strong relationship with your spouse because your desires focus on them alone. Choosing to never covet your neighbor’s house, car, or goods gives you freedom from discontentment and materialism! (10th Commandment)
The most important commandment of all is the first one. Choosing to have no other gods before God Almighty means submitting to Him as Ruler instead of wanting to set the rules yourself. If He is truly first, then you cannot sit on the throne of your life.
This is the very foundation of freedom. Submitting to God as Ruler frees you from a million and one mistakes that would otherwise sabotage your life and make you a slave in a million and one different and unforeseen ways.
He overflows with wisdom, He has more knowledge and foresight than you could possibly imagine, and He has a heart for your good like no other.
Truly, truly, submitting to God and His Law sets you up for freedom like nothing else.
Zack's Desk 