Exodus 20:12-18

What Do I Live By?

A Question Of Values

How comfortable are you with God? Some of us are too comfortable. When we read a list like the Ten Commandments, we start to justify what we have done. Let’s consider the last commandment, “do not covet.” We get so comfortable with God that we start to act like a lawyer in front of a judge. “I wasn’t coveting my neighbor’s new car; I was just admiring it.” Suddenly, we are linguistic experts carefully working around dictionary definitions to justify our sin. Do you really want to argue that case in front of God who knows your thoughts and heart?

I am so thankful for a caring, loving God whom we can approach with confidence. However, that does not mean we can get comfortable. He is, after all, the Almighty God. We need to respect/fear God in the way the Israelites did in Exodus 20:18. When they saw what was going on atop the mountain, they kept their distance. They were happy to let Moses approach God and tell them what God said (though they didn’t obey. That’s a different devotion). This type of healthy respect is appropriate and needed in our lives. The values from the Ten Commandments and other commands from the Bible that we hold to are important. They should not be treated as rules to find loopholes in. Don’t get too comfortable with God.