It is at this historic meeting between God and his people where God presents the ten commandments. In the Hebrew, Moses calls them God's ten "words" - his ten instructions.
The ten instructions are not the only ten things God cares about. Instead, they are the ten examples of God's core values, the ideas that will form the foundation of Israel's society - the values that will guide how neighbours treat neighbours.
And God reminds them why he gets to write these instructions,and why these intructions are necessary: because he is the one who has rescued them from slavery, and becuase he did not rescue them from so they could enslave each other in the way they live.
And the core values can be summarized as:
- respect God (first three)
- respect yourself (Sabbath)
- respect others (last six)
Write
Think about your faith story: how important has it been for you to live in away that respects God, yourself, and others?
in your life presently, in what way you maybe disrespectful of God? Of yourself? Of others? How have these behaviour interfered in your intimacy with God, yourself, and others?
Who do you know is feeling "enslaved" because of their failure to live respectfully to God, themselves, and others?
Pray
What
is God saying to you today? What's Good News to you?
Talk to God about your experience of living respectfully. Thank God for his passion for our freedom, and gives us his instructions and his Spirit to help us live freely.
Pray about your present struggle with living respectfully of God, yourself and others. Ask God for the help you need, the reassureance of his presence, and the courage to honestly hear what God invites you to change about your values and habits.
Pray for your friend who is feeling "enslaved". Ask God to give you the wisdom and opportunity to come along side your friend and walk with them to greater freedom.
Pray for an experience of God's love, grace and mercy in the way he guards your freedom, and how he instructs you towards values that leads to freedom.