In the beginning of this scratching post where I bring my thoughts and bare my soul for the world to see, I said that "As for me and my house we will serve the Lord." But who is in my house? Where is my house? As a matter of fact, those questions are secondary. The first part of that Bible verse says "as for me". Before the rest of my family, the rest of my house can serve God faithfully, I have to serve God faithfully. Me.
But, I haven't served God faithfully. I haven't always been faithful in reading God's Word, hearing God's Word, doing what God says to do. I have broken every commandment, as given in Exodus 20:1-17. Commandment #1: Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Broke it. Haven't always put God first in my life. Commandment #2: Thou shalt not make any graven image or bow down to them and serve them. Broke it. No, I have not bowed a knee to any statue or worshipped at the altars of Buddha or Mohammed. I have however served the god Bacchus by getting drunk on a regular basis. I have bowed a knee to the porcelain throne and worshipped at every bar I ever hung out at. I wasn't putting God first then.
Commandment #3: Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. Swearing made me cool. Commandment #4: Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy. Sunday mornings were for recovering from Saturday nights. And sitting on a pew wasn't near as comfortable as my bed. Commandment #5: Honor thy father and thy mother. Nope, broke that one, too. If I had honored my parents, I would have lived a life pleasing to God from the get go. I would have lived a respectable life and not lived a life that made my mother cry.
Commandment #6: Thou shalt not kill. Jesus says that if I even think about hurting someone or gossip about them, I have killed them in my heart, with my tongue and my words. Hmm. Yep, broke that one too. Commandment #7: Thou shalt not commit adultery. Adultery. Sex outside the marriage bed. Well, since I wasn't married I didn't think that applied to single people, only married people. But having sex outside the guidelines which God had set in place is adultery. Against God. Broke #7, too. I had a few relationships like that. One resulted in having a child out of wedlock and raising him on my own. That adulterous affair also gave me an STD. And it made me afraid to love. One resulted in getting pregnant and marrying my adulterous partner. Flirting is adultery of the heart. Booty glances is adultery of the mind. It is not okay to ogle that guy's butt or glance at that girl's breasts or her legs and imagine. Commandment #8: Thou shalt not steal. Five-finger discount is stealing. Even if you only did it once on a dare. Tasting the produce before you buy it at the grocer's is stealing. Not tithing is stealing from God, not the church.
Commandment #9: Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor. There is no such thing as a white lie or a little lie. Crossing your fingers behind your back does not validate a lie. Twisting the truth, exaggeration, whoppers; all lies. False witness is to accuse someone of doing or not doing an action. Sad to say, I have broken that commandment, too. Listening to gossip is the same as spreading it.
Commandment #10: Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's anything. Not the house, not the spouse, not the people who work for him, not his vehicles of transportation, not his job. Anything that belongs to someone else does not belong to you. Or me. Keeping up with the Joneses is breaking this commandment. To covet is to greatly desire, to obsess, to dwell on, to think about all the time. Yep, broke that one too. Wanting what someone else has keeps me from being satisfied with what I have. It is possible to be ambitious in life and still not sin against God. But that message is for another time. The following link is an awesome message on this subject written in PDF and easily understood by anyone, regardless of your age. And, yes, I did read the whole thing.
Breaking the 10 Commandments
As a public confession of my faith, I was water baptized. But I knew I needed more of Him and more His grace in order to live the life He had planned for me to live. I needed the baptism of The Holy Spirit. I asked. I begged. I pleaded. I waited. I received. It's the waiting that pleases God, I think, the most. He waits for ever for us to repent and be saved. He waits for us to ask. He doesn't just bombshell us with every good and perfect gift He has in His storehouse for us: He waits for us to ask for them. As in Acts 1 and 2, they waited but they still did God's business. We need to be about God's business while we wait for His perfect gifts which He has for us to arrive.
Everyday of my life now, I surrender my body a living sacrifice, as ordained in Romans 12:1. I choose to put God first in everything I do now. It is a sacrifice of self. I do not have to take my life into my own hands anymore. Everytime that happened I screwed up. With God in control, for I have given Him control, of my life whatever happens to me, happens because God allows it.
However, the sin that I sowed into my life will still reap consequences. Satan still reminds me of my past. But, the Holy Spirit reminds me of my present and my future. So, again I say, as for me and my house we will serve the Lord. "I will" has become "I do". Now, we need to get "my house" in order.
