Human Nature and the 10 Commandments

The 10 Commandments are full of thou shalt's and shalt not's. They were given to Moses after Israel was freed from the bondage of slavery. (Ex. 20:2) But they are not meant just as rules to be followed. They also help us understand how we are meant to be as human beings. (Rom. 7:13) Breaking any one of the commandments not only is an infraction against God’s will, (1 John 3:4) but it also diminishes our joy because we are not living up to our nature as God intended. Like the singer who cannot sing, or the artist who cannot create, our joy will be lacking if we do not fulfill our God given nature!

The first four commandments define our relationship with God. We are to live for Him and not ourselves. To make anything more important than God or define Him on our terms is idolatry. Worshipping something that is false make us false! (2 Kings 17:15) The next six commandments show how we are to treat others from our parents to our neighbor. This we all know. But let us look at the Decalogue as descriptive of human nature for we do not want to be false but true to who we are meant to be!

We are created in God’s image. (Gen. 1:27) Remember the Fall occurred when the first humans did not follow God’s Word. Shame took away their joy.  Today we often lack joy because we are not living up to the image God has intended for us. Taken as whole, we can see that the 10 Commandments reflect how we are to be as God’s creatures. We are to be honest, content with what we have trusting God for our needs. God is the source of our life and He should be the beginning and end of our devotions. We are meant to be centered in Him and not in ourselves. When we behave less than how God intended for us to be, we are not in a happy state.

The Good News is that Christ helps us be the persons God wants us to be. It is He who works in us fulfilling God’s will in our lives. (Phil. 2:13) Our joy comes from the knowledge that we have a Helper (Rom. 8:26-30) and that we are growing closer to our Heavenly Father on our earthly journey. (Luke 15:20) We can trust that our debts have been paid on the Cross and with that knowledge live a life fulfilling God’s desires as God molds us back into His image of us. To Him alone be the glory!

The Odor of a True Christian

 ¹⁴ But thanks be to God, who always leads us as captives in Christ's victory parade. God uses us to spread his knowledge everywhere like a sweet-smelling perfume. ¹⁵ Our offering to God is this: We are the sweet smell of Christ among those who are being saved and among those who are being lost.¹⁶ To those who are lost, we are the smell of death that brings death, but to those who are being saved, we are the smell of life that brings life. So who is able to do this work?¹⁷ We do not sell the word of God for a profit as many other people do. But in Christ we speak the truth before God, as messengers of God. (2 Corinthians 2:14-17, New Century Version)

We are the Artist's Creation

For You formed my inward parts; You knitted me together in my    mother's womb. 
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. 
Wonderful are your works; My soul knows it very well. (Psalm 139:13-14)

We are God's masterpiece. After the earth and heaven's were made, God, like a potter, took clay and sculpted us into His image. We are a piece of fine art!

Do we ever think of ourselves in this way? Have we ever looked in the mirror as if it were a frame and within the frame was the picture God had in mind when He created us?

Psalm 139 is a Psalm of King David. He understood perfectly well that his existence was solely at the pleasure of God. Without God, he would not be.  And this is true for us as well. God knew who we were before our parents ever conceived of us. And we are precious to our creator.

We are so precious God will not forsake us. We may forsake Him but He will not forsake us.  We are so valuable to Him that even Jesus mentions the joy of heaven when the lost are found . (Luke 15)  David wants to be the masterpiece God had in mind. Knowing that his life is dependant upon the creator, the artist, he concluded this psalm with a request: Search me, O God,  and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. (vv.23-24)

Let us honor our Creator by being dependant on His Holy Spirit to lead us in all truth, the way everlasting!

Allen Peyton's Theory of Negativity.

I would like to introduce to you my new Theory of Negativity. The theory goes like this: When one person offers a complaint to another person or group of people, it becomes necessary for all listeners to offer a more negative complaint! We often see this at teas and committee meetings. The complaints become graver as each individual remarks on how bad they have it. The goal is to make sure the previous gripe really is not that bad at all eliciting a true need of sympathy for the present speaker. Since sympathy is in short supply, it should only go to the worst case scenario. I submit to you that this theory explains much of worldly behavior. A true Christian would see God's guiding hand and will understand their circumstances with thanksgiving and joy (I Thess. 5:18) knowing all things work for good for those who love God, the elect! (Romans 8:28)

For an example of the Theory of Negativity in action, please play the video below.

Florence Nighingale: Nursing as Calling

I write this post from my mother's bedside. She is in a nursing home run by the nuns of Our Lady of Perpetual Help, a nursing order in the Dominican tradition. They are called to tend to those dying from cancer.

Florence Nightingale believed she was called to the sick and dying. But in her day, nursing was relegated to prostitutes and substance abusers. For Florence, she saw the dignity of God in each suffering soul she ministered to. Today's hospitals owe much to the reforms Florence initiated.

But what I often see missing in our Christan life is the celebration of acts of mercy to the sick and suffering. What the nuns are teaching me, and what Jesus has taught already, is how serving the poor allows Christ to serve us through them. Florence saw nursing as a noble profession in a day when women who lived on and off the street were demanded to care for those deemed untouchable by disease and accident. Today we now have men in nursing and expect a professionalism once reserved for doctors. But what can't be reserved is mercy. The God we worship is a merciful God. Let us be merciful to all who suffer in our day!

Life-giving God, you alone have power over life and death, over health and sickness: Give power, wisdom, and gentleness to those who follow the lead of Florence Nightingale, that they, bearing with them your presence, may not only heal but bless, and shine as lanterns of hope in the darkest hours of pain and fear; through Jesus Christ, the healer of body and soul, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen