#1 Most Difficult Commandment of All - Can You Keep It?Sample

Here’s a recap of the Ten Commandments, slightly expanded for clarity:

1. No other gods. There is only one GOD.

2. Make no idols, don’t worship or serve anything that distracts you from God.

3. Do not misuse God’s name. Don’t even speak it out except in the most hallowed way.

4. Keep the Sabbath, take a rest each week. Everyone needs a break.

5. Honor your father and your mother. They sacrificed to raise you, respect them back.

6. Do not murder. Don’t even be angry at others.

7. Do not commit adultery. Don’t even think lustfully about someone else.

8. Do not steal. Don’t “borrow” things from work, or lie on your tax return.

9. Do not lie about others. Just be honest always, even if it is difficult.

10. Do not lust after what others have. Don’t be greedy.

Put this way, some of these commands might give us more problems than we initially thought.

If you had to choose the 3 “most difficult” commandments, which would they be? Start by ruling out the “easy” commandments and then check the rest.

Do that now with the above list and see which is “more difficult.”

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So, which ones did you end up with? Are your top 3 are among the following? Likely, they are…

2. No idols.

3. Do not misuse God’s name.

4. Keep the Sabbath.

7. No adultery.

10. No wanting what others have.

Let’s look at this short list from the bottom up…

#10. In the West, everywhere we look, companies are trying to convince us that we really need & want what they are selling. That we just have to have it… but check what Jesus says:

“Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” – Luke 12:15b

#7. What about adultery? The same companies promoting their products know that sex sells, and so they use that, too. And many of us – about half of us – are wired to be very visual, and so the words of Jesus hit hard:

“But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.” – Matthew 5:28

#4. What about the boundaries between work and personal life? These are becoming ever more blurred, so the idea of keeping one day a week as a rest day, holy to God, is challenging, if not impossible. We never have enough time, even though that one extra day per week is a gift from God:

“The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.“ – Mark 2:27b

#3. What about God’s name? So many of our Christian friends even say “Oh my God” to feign surprise, never mind others who misuse the name of God to curse or show how tough they are! Check Jesus’s comment on how use to God’s name:

“Our Father in heaven, HALLOWED be your name…” – Matthew 6:9b

One of these four might rank as the most difficult for you, but in the next reading, we’ll see why the 2nd commandment is the “most difficult” for those who have gone before, and especially for us today: