New Life Choices

Results

If I’m holding a glass, then I drop it on a hard floor, it will break. It doesn’t matter if I want it to break, it’s going to happen. After it breaks, I might really wish it wasn’t broken, but it will still be in pieces on the floor. That’s the way that life is.
We are the result of our choices. If we make good choices, we will have better consequences than if we make bad choices.
Genetics can play a role (I was never going to be tall enough to play in the NBA). It also matters who we grow up with and where. At the end of the day, though, we all are responsible for our lives.
Many people have had horrible childhoods, yet they became very happy, successful adults. Others have had everything good handed to them growing up, but they became miserable, ungodly adults.
We all have good and bad things happen to us. How we choose to address them defines who and what we will become.

Greatest Commandment

One day, an expert in the Jewish law asked Jesus a question

There are literally hundreds of commandments in the Old Testament. Jesus told this man that it can all be boiled down to these two commandments, though. God has always been showing us His love, and looking for us to love Him back. If we love someone, we will only do what we believe is good for them.
We can even see this in the Ten Commandments. The first four speak to our relationship with God, the others outline our relationship with each other. Through it all, it’s all about love.

Ten Commandments

Notice that these are commandments, not suggestions. God expects us to keep them. If we don’t, there will be negative consequences, just like the negative consequences from dropping the glass. Some people think that God wants to keep us from being happy. It’s actually just the opposite. These commandments are here to show us how to have a truly joyful life (and eternal life).

No Other Gods

The word “idolatry” actually means placing our main affection or desire on anyone or anything over God Himself. He wants, and deserves, to be far more important than anything or anyone else. He created us for this purpose — to love Him!

Making Idols

In most of the Western world today, people are not bowing down and worshiping statues necessarily. I believe the most common idol that people have made and worship is so-called “science.” They will typically claim that they believe in “science”, not God. By its definition, that is making and worshiping an idol. By doing this, people are showing their own arrogance and pride. True science, however, is based on facts, not assumptions. When someone makes the statement that they won’t even consider the existence of God, but they will believe in the Big Bang Theory and evolutionary theory instead, they actually violate a major point of true science. They are refusing to accept all possible answers to a question, even though their own theories cannot be proven.

Taking God’s Name in Vain

If someone applies for a credit card or a loan using someone else’s name, it’s a crime. They used the other person’s good name and credit under false pretenses. That’s similar to what happens when someone takes God’s name in vain. It’s when someone “curses” using God’s name, but they are not actually calling out to Him. It reduces the majesty and glory of God in that person’s eyes, when He should be exalted and praised forever for His lovingkindness and goodness to all of us.

Remember the Sabbath Day

In Jesus’ day, the Pharisees and Sadducees had added numerous things to God’s law, including the Sabbath day. They actually claimed that Jesus (the Son of God) was a sinner, because he healed people on the Sabbath. This is what Jesus said.

God established the Sabbath day when He rested from creating the universe in six days. He has unlimited power and energy, so He did not need to rest; He rested to give us an example.

Relationship with Other People

The next six commandments in Exodus 20 deal with our relationships with each other. If we truly love each other, these are things that we will be doing — not because we are forced to, but because we want to. Love leads us to do loving things.

Honor Your Father and Your Mother

Paul points out in Ephesians 6:2 that this is the first commandment with a promise.

Most people would like to live long, prosperous lives. This is one major way to accomplish that. As we grow up, we want to think for ourselves and not be forced to do what someone else tells us to. Our parents have lived longer than we have, so they have probably been through what we are going through right now. They also probably love us with a love that is like no other.
Some people feel that their parents don’t deserve their love, because of their actions or words over the years. Unfortunately, in some cases, that might be true. On the other hand, this might just be an opportunity to show forgiveness.
At the same time, notice the promise that God gives: “that your days may be prolonged in the land which the LORD your God gives you.” This is a promise for the son or daughter who is honoring their father and mother.
Just as forgiving someone benefits the person who is doing the forgiving, honoring your parents benefits the one doing the honoring.

Murder

As we see in other scriptures, this does not include execution after a person has been convicted of a capital crime (such as murder). It also does not include defending yourself or others, such as in a time of war.
Murder is the taking of a human life, with the explicit exceptions just mentioned. It is especially heinous, because it is destroying someone who was created in the image of God. This includes suicide. God has created each of us in His image. Life is hard, but God can give you the strength to overcome, if you trust and follow Him.
Science has confirmed to us that an unborn child is a human who only needs a safe place to be fed, nurtured, and grow. This is the same as a newborn child. Viewing life in this way (which is also confirmed in scripture — see Jer.1:5 and Gal.1:15), we can see that abortion is actually murder.

Adultery

God created Adam and Eve. He created them to be married to each other for their entire lives. Some people have said that we were never intended to be married for many years. I think that Adam and Eve, along with billions of others, disprove that idea.
Remember how Jesus said that the greatest commandments were to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself. If you love your spouse, you won’t commit adultery against them. If you truly love someone else’s spouse, you won’t commit adultery with them. Loving God also means that you will keep yourself pure, no matter what our society says is okay. This means waiting to have sex until you have made the lifelong commitment of marriage, then keeping yourself only for your spouse.
This is how God created us to live, and this is how we can show true love, not what the world around us claims love is.

Stealing

Love wants the best for the other person. Stealing is the opposite of that love. Stealing is done by someone who only cares for himself. It can be taking someone else’s car or watch. It can also be eating a grape at the grocery store without paying for it. How much something costs is not the point. The point is taking something that does not belong to you.

We should be giving to others, not taking from them; generosity not greed.

Lying

Just like with stealing, God doesn’t say, “It’s okay to lie as long as you think it’s not a big lie.” There is no such thing as “a little white lie.” What God is specifically saying here is saying something bad or negative about someone else that you know is not true. This could be a political “opponent”, a coworker, or a former friend. Lying might seem like the easiest or most effective tool at the time, but it’s almost always a bad decision. It’s definitely not the loving decision.

Coveting

Coveting simply means to desire greatly. I learned a long time ago that I will never be the best or worst at anything. I will never be the best looking or the richest or the most popular. There can only be one best of any particular thing, and chances are you won’t be the best, either. That means that you might be tempted to be jealous of what someone else has. This can lead to anger, lying, or many other things that are the opposite of love.
Instead of jealousy, we should be happy for others when they are doing well. We should also be thankful to God for what we have. Being jealous of someone else means we are blaming God for not giving us what we think we deserve.
Paul, once again, had the right attitude.

Love

If we look at every situation in our lives as an opportunity to be thankful to God for what He has given us, as well as an opportunity to show His love to God and others, we will live the joyful, happy, content, and blessed life that He intends for each one of us.