The Big Ten ~3 & 4~

Welcome, my dear friends. Grab a cup of your favorite beverage and we will continue on with a small study on the Ten Commandments.

Last week we discussed numbers 1 and 2. Today we'll cover numbers 3 and 4.

#3 Watch your words
If you know the 10 Commandments, you know this is actually 'Do not take the Lord's name in vain'. Watch you words, what you say about the Lord, is more to the point though. God wants us to use His name in a loving way, not in vain or anger. Now, the obvious swear word would be G** D****. {shudder} Even thinking that word makes me feel dirty. Unfortunately, there are many who seem to be unable to talk without inserting it into the conversations.

Maybe you don't use that word (good for you!). But...have you ever exclaimed "Oh My God!"? What about in a time of frustration saying "Jesus Christ!"? Yep, just as bad.

There are only two reasons that you should be using His name, when you are talking to Him, or when talking about Him. Everything else falls under the whole 'name in vain' thing. Think about it, how would you feel if your good name was used at a cuss word? I don't think I would take to kindly to Papa Bear hitting his thumb with a hammer and instead of saying "shucky-darn", he yelled out "Mama Bear"!

#4 Remember the Sabbath
We are to rest. We have six days to do our work, but the seventh is dedicated to rest and family and God. By keeping the 4th Commandment, we are showing God we are willing to honor Him. God made the Sabbath as a time for us to rest from the previous six days of work...whether we think we need it or not.

He knew we would need to rest physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. The Sabbath is a time to break away from the daily routine. There is much debate on which day is actually the Sabbath, and then what about people who HAVE to work on that day...firemen, hospital workers, farmers still need to milk the cows and feed the pigs and gather the eggs.

In my opinion, and this is just my opinion, I feel as long as we take one day a week and set it aside to relax and unwind, that is fine. I like to work in my yard and in my garden. to me, this isn't working. I have no problem doing this on Sunday as I find it to be very relaxing. I really think the Sabbath is meant to take a break from the daily grind, to spend time in Christian fellowship, and to spend time with God.