A Fresh Look @ the 10 Commandments

I haven't spent much time on the computer for the past several days and have gotten quite far behind on my blogging!  But then this morning I got up and read something in my devotional time that I wanted to share with everyone.  It comes from a little devotional book called, "Our Daily Bread."  Here is what the writer, Julie Ackerman Link, had to say:
"Sometimes I wonder why God didn’t list the Ten Commandments in reverse order, since the 10th commandment correlates to the first sin—desire. Eve’s sin wasn’t simply her desire for a piece of fruit; it was the desire for knowledge that Satan told her would make her like God (Gen. 3:5). Eve’s covetousness caused her to violate both the first and tenth commands that God later gave to Moses.

When we don’t covet, we pretty much eliminate our reasons to disobey the other commands. Wanting what isn’t ours causes us to lie, steal, commit adultery, murder, and refuse to honor our parents. We refuse to rest because we can’t get what we want in 6 days of work. We misuse God’s name when we use it to justify something that we want to do. We make gods out of wealth and relationships because we don’t want to have to put all our trust in God.
I have a hard time coming up with sins that don’t involve some form of covetousness. Yet because it’s the last in the list, we tend to think of it as being the least important. But it’s not. When we stop sin while it is still in our hearts and heads, we avoid making others the victim of our sin, and we avoid many of the serious consequences of sin."

We tend to brush off the 10 Commandments as something of the spiritual past not looking at them as being relevant to our daily lives.  I believe this article will give us a fresh perspective of how we can make this relevant today as we interact with those around us.  As the author of this article says, "wanting what isn't ours causes us to lie, steal...murder, refuse to honour our parents" (who by the way are MUCH wiser than we give them credit).  What do you want today that isn't yours?  A different job, a different talent, a new wardrobe that you can't afford, a different husband, new kids?  Are you looking around you thinking it seems that everyone has something you want and you can't attain to it?  King David did that the night he saw Bathsheba on the rooftop leading him into horrible decisions....lust, adultry, murder, lying....all because he wanted something that was not his.   His covetousness caused him to break almost every commandment on the tablets!
 I think this girl is right on about her fresh look on the 10 Commandments.  Maybe it is time we opened the Old Testament closet and brush off the first gift God gave His creation; Not to live under legalism but to remind us that He really does love us and desires that we walk in a way that pleases Him by doing what is right and loving others.