The Ten Commandments, as contained in the Holy Bible, are a set of Laws handed to Moses by God on Mount Horeb (same as Mount Sinai) to guide the conduct of Israel at the time. Over time, they have evolved to what may be regarded as Universal Moral Law or Natural Law, not just to guide the conduct of Christians in particular, but also of humanity in general. They can be found in the Bible books of Exodus (chapter 20) and Deuteronomy (chapter 5).
Following is a list of the Ten Commandments:
- Thou shall have no other gods before Me.
- Thou shall not make/worship idols.
- Thou shall not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
- Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.
- Honor thy father and thy mother.
- Thou shall not kill.
- Thou shall not commit adultery.
- Thou shall not steal.
- Thou shall not bear false witness against thy neighbor.
- Thou shall not covet.
The thought of taking the Ten Commandment Test occurred to me in the middle of the night while I lay on my bed having just concluded my covenant time. I picked up my phone and the first image I’m confronted with on my home screen picture display is one of the Ten Commandments tablets. The thought immediately occurred to me to measure my compliance with these divine statutes. I have had that image in my phone for a while but had never thought to gauge my life conduct by them. I meticulously went through all commandments one after the other. I will not tell my score but I didn’t do badly; though I could do better.
I meditated on the commandments, my score and performance to really determine the significance of taking such a test. Jesus Christ’s teaching on the Parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke 18:9-14) gives clarification on the disposition one must adopt in this matter. Should one claim righteousness like the Pharisees and Sadducees or condemn oneself like the Tax Collector?
I came to the conclusion that the test isn’t meant to condemn one (if one performs poorly) or to encourage one to claim righteousness (if one performs well) but to remind one of the obligation to constantly strive to live by the commandments of God and the teachings of Jesus Christ.
Even Jesus Christ refused to be called “good” (though He deserved to be so called). The Bible warning in the book of James chapter 2, verse 10 – “For whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” is a humble reminder of how much we need to continue in our onward journey to perfection. To be successful at this, one needs to exploit the grace of God to enable holiness.
It behoves on us, especially as Christians, to continually and regularly re-examine our lives to determine if we have not deviated from our walk with God. The journey of faith to salvation is one that must be run with fear and trembling. By the special grace of God, we will all assemble in heaven.
Have you taken the Ten Commandment test? What is your score? Feel free to share your thoughts…
Toks Ero blogs at www.toksero.org