If You Love Me, Keep My Commandments

A wise man, nearing the end of his life said, "Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man." The Ten Commandments can be likened to a plumbline showing whether all is well or crooked. The straight edge of the ruler of God's law indicates how crooked our way of life might be.

Many have been brought to faith in Jesus Christ having heard or read the Ten Commandments. Until a man sees that he is crooked he is unaware of the need to be straightened. The Commandments help us understand God, and God has high standards.

Almighty God wants the best for people. He certainly doesn't want to spoil our fun, nor does He want us to spoil our fun. God created and formed us, and then says, "Here are instructions to make things work out well for you, so that you can get the very best out of life."

Obeying the Commandments can keep us from unnecessary suffering.

A young girl who has been chaste and pure and enjoying innocence suddenly decides, "I am no longer listening to my parents. I will be a 'modern miss'. I am going to find out and come to my own conclusions."

She will soon realise that she no longer enjoys innocence. Her knowledge of sin and wrong will be first hand, but her knowledge of innocence and purity will be second hand.
When God spoke these Commandments, which were for society's well being and welfare, He addressed them to individuals.

We each have a responsibility to keep these commandments not only for our own good, but also for the wider good of society. Many are currently talking about the collapse of society and how fear and trepidation are increasing in so many communities.

It may not be very fashionable in these present days to keep God's commandments and to seek to live the way He says is best and safest, but when we take the long term view, even an eternal view, it has dividends which are out of this world!

Jesus Christ summed it up when He said, "If you love me, keep my commandments."

Sandy Shaw

Sandy Shaw is Pastor of Nairn Christian Fellowship, Chaplain at Inverness Prison, and Nairn Academy, and serves on The Children's Panel in Scotland, and has travelled extensively over these past years teaching, speaking, in America, Canada, South Africa, Australia, making 12 visits to Israel conducting Tours and Pilgrimages, and most recently in Uganda and Kenya, ministering at Pastors and Leaders Seminars, in the poor areas surrounding Kampala, Nairobi, Mombasa and Kisumu.