Starting at a young age I knew I was blessed with good, some may say great, physical vision. My eye-sight was 20-15 left and 20-20 right. I could see a flock of birds from a far distance and usually was the first to spot animals on boat rides � no bragging rights intended. We use our eyes everyday. Perfect vision is considered 20-20 vision. A far greater vision than that of our physical vision is our spiritual vision. The core base of working toward a perfect relationship with God is what I refer to as God's 20:20 vision, also known as The Ten Commandments. These Commands, spoken from God Himself, are found in Exodus 20:1-20. The actual commandments are in verses 1-17. However, there is a key statement found in verse 20: "Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid, God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning."
The people of Israel were in great fear of God; they just witnessed at the foot of Mt. Sinai what God was capable of. "When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance" (Ex. 20:18). Without the Ten Commandments no person would know that they were sinning. Our sin separates us from God. To sin is to disobey God. This can be seen when Adam and Eve first hid from God after disobeying God. "Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the LORD God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the LORD God among the trees of the garden" (Gen. 3:8). They hid from God and were separated from God for the first time. There is another truth spoken from the Prophet Isaiah: "But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear" (Isaiah 59:2). Sin separates us from God.
There is a powerful statement that Martin Luther, in the Large Catechism, spoke. "Anyone who knows the Ten Commandments perfectly knows the entire scriptures" (Hauerwas, 13). I agree with the fundamentals of this statement. To explain, let's review the Ten Commandments straight out of the Bible:
"1 And God spoke all these words:
2 "I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
3 "You shall have no other gods before me.
4 "You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. 5 You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, 6 but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.
7 "You shall not misuse the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not hold anyone guiltless who misuses his name.
8 "Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your manservant or maidservant, nor your animals, nor the alien within your gates. 11 For in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.
12 "Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you.
13 "You shall not murder.
14 "You shall not commit adultery.
15 "You shall not steal.
16 "You shall not give false testimony against your neighbor.
17 "You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."
The Ten Commandments are vital in our relationship with God. As sinners, we are apart from God and we are kept at a distance. That is, until God sent His one and only Son, Jesus Christ, to atone for our sins. "For God so love the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life" (John 3:16). God sent His commandments because He loves us, just as He sent Jesus (reference: Galatians 3:19-25).
Take the advice of Edith Schaeffer, author of Lifelines: "As we approach a study of the Ten Commandments, we need to approach it as a time of having the understanding become a part of us in a strong way" (Schaeffer, 23). This is another way of "keeping the spirit of the law." We, as Christians, should naturally tend to follow what God commands of us. This is the work of the Holy Spirit in us. It is put clearly in Encountering the Old Testament: "Obeying His law is the right response to God's grace, not as a means of salvation, but as the response to salvation" (Arnold, 113). When a person accepts Jesus Christ into their heart, they are changed. Keeping the Ten Commandments and making every effort to follow them is a form of worship and goes hand in hand with "keeping the spirit of the law."
The love of God that dwells in us through the Holy Spirit enables us to put to practice what God commands for our lives. In many cases this does not come naturally and takes work. In every effort to obey God and His commands, we need to remember that although everyone sins, we are forgiven by the blood of Jesus. Obeying God should not be an act we look upon in dread, but the desire should spring up within our hearts to please Him. Knowing and understanding that God put commands in our lives because He loves us is vital to our relationship with God. We are all sinners and cannot uphold the law - but there is hope in Jesus.
We are saved only through the blood of Jesus Christ. "Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me" (John 4:6). The study of the Ten Commandments helps me to understand what God commands for my life. I desire to be closer to God and it better helps me understand using my idea of God's 20:20 vision. It is something I want for my life and something I can work at by putting my trust and hope in God. I pray for the Holy Spirit to work through me and for God to give me strength to walk the narrow path and to "keep the spirit of the law" starting with the Ten Commandments.
God spoke the Commands to Moses; these are what He desires for all His people. Through Jesus Christ, we are able to have a relationship with God and are forgiven for our sins. Through the Holy Spirit we have the strength to do our best in "keeping the spirit of the law." We cannot earn salvation through our works, only through Jesus Christ our Savior, but we should make every effort to do what is pleasing to our God we love.
"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Blessed are they that do His commandments, that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city." Revelation 22:13-14 KJV
