Friday 16 Mar 2012

Friday Reading: Exodus 20:1-17

Key Verse: Exodus 20:17
17  Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.

Devotion:
Have you ever wondered why the previous four commandments are short and this last one gets a bit of an extended explanation? Now I know that we should not be lining up the commandments and saying that we should be keeping these ones and those ones can be bent a little because God gave us all of the commandments and all of the law as a complete entity. It was man who imposed restrictions and differentiations on the laws. It was man who said that these are important and maybe not those. It was man who asked Christ which of the commandments was the most important! But… when we are given a fuller explanation for something it is normally so that we take a bit more notice of it. This is not to say that this is more important, but it is important that we think about it and what is being said.

Do not steal. That is pretty straight forward; but the more we think about it the more we find out how much of our lives is based around the concept that it is ok to take some things even though God says “do not steal!”

This is another part of us that is so very different. I will not pretend to be able to say how ladies think on this subject but I know from experience that it is very different to how men think. Is it any wonder then that there are huge differences in countries where men are in charge and where women are in charge? I am not saying one is better than the other because we need both in order for there to be stability – something too many governments push aside. Men will always think that there is room for “manoeuvring” because they are thinking of only one aspect of what lies ahead. Ladies will continue to be able to think of so many more aspects of what lies ahead than we do and so they try to weight things up a bit more. Now before I dig myself a rather large hole, I am going to leave off on this and just get you to think about the fact that we are different.

Coveting is a sin. We fall into that sin many times in our lives. We see others and we get envious of what they have or are able to do. What God wants us to be able to do though, is to take a step back and say “ok, I can accept that things are different”. God wants us to embrace the difference and use it to enhance our lives and not to break things down. God has given us these incredible bodies and brains so that we can live for Him and with Him – but also with each other.

Points to Ponder:
Do you get jealous?

Have you tried asking God to help you embrace the differences in our lives?