As many know, the last book of God’s word describes those who will be saved (Rev. 22:14) ” Blessed are they that DO His Commandments, that they may have the right to the tree of life”.
The Lord guided me to do this post to more throughly show examples of keeping His Commandments. To get a clearer view on what it means to “Walk the walk”. When it was recently revealed to me about the 144,000 ( post “The 144,000” listed under Salvation), it really sent me to do some soul searching and to realign my path to help bring the truth out more fully and seriously. Partial obedience WILL NOT satisfy. It is of the DEEPEST concern for our spiritual welfare to know what is required of us.
Jesus said few will enter into the eternal kingdom. Ellen White (our last Prophetess) said the same thing. They are not lying. So we must have a healthly fear (reverence) and look at our lives and ask– Am I doing enough to be found worthly of His kingdom? As we read above, His word makes it clear His Commandments are key. The following guide will make it very plain to examine your life to see if you are indeed DOING His Commandments and not just going through the motions. Let us break down the “walk”.
#1 “Love the Lord your God with all your heart , mind and soul”
Are you doing these things— Reading His word daily? Praying daily? Telling people about Him daily or at least very frequently?Do you pray frequently a similar prayer as this? “Father, help me to keep your Holy Commandments, and if I error please let me know about it”. If you are, you’re well on your way to doing the first one.
#2 “No other God’s before Him, or worship Idols”
Do you have a certain hobby or pursuit that constantly is taking most of your spare time? Are you placing objects or persons before Him? We must be careful to use our time wisely and not devote our spare time to continually putting things or even loved ones in front of our Lord. Let me give you an example.
Let’s say your spouse has worked hard for a long time in pursuit of a certain degree. Their graduation is next Saturday. They are excited to “finally” get the degree. You think long and hard about attending, you say to yourself ” It’s just this once, God will understand, I’ll go”. No! You have now put your spouse BEFORE God. This is particulary bad because it’s a “premeditated sin”. If you make little “exceptions” like this and put people or things in front of Him, you are carelesly tossing aside His word- not good!
Read (Numbers 15:32) for alittle story of a man who put his family before God and His Law (harmlessly collecting sticks, so he thought). And he didn’t get a second chance!
#3 “Do not take His name in vain”
This is pretty clear cut but what many don’t realize is the following. When you HEAR someone in your presence take the Lord’s name in vain you MUST correct Him. If you do not, YOU have just silently agreed with what they have done. You don’t have to go into a sermon with them , it can be a simple “You know it’s better to say Jeepers Creepers” and leave it at that. Ofcourse they may want more info, and it’ll be a chance to spread His word!(that’s why it’s a good idea to have cards with your name and number with you-for studies)
#4 “Keep the Sabbath Holy”
By keeping it “Holy” it is meant that we are not to do our normal activities (work, pleasure and such). This Is the Lord’s Day. It’s amazing how often He called it “My Sabbaths” in the Old Testament. Proper worship and respect is our duty for this day. But some think ” Oh, I’ll run to the store real quick and buy that little item I forgot to get for lunch” No! Or they will say ” I’ll stop at the gas station because I forgot to do it yesterday, He’ll understand”. No! These “little” things are NOT LITTLE to God. You might as well go to the keg party because in God’s sight YOU JUST DID!
Read again the little sticks story (Numbers 15:32-36). If you continue to do these little breaks here and there, you’ll be grieving the Holy Spirit.
#5 “Honor your Father and Mother”
This one isn’t a part-time one when YOU feel like it. It mean always honoring them. You don’t yell at them or generally dis-respect them. Here’s an example. Your Father promised to help you on that loan payment, but he didn’t do so. Father’s day is coming up in a couple days. You say to yourself ” Forget him! He doesn’t deserve any call from me!” That would be bad to the Lord. Instead you should swallow your pride and call him anyway. Honoring takes precedence over “our” feelings.
#6 ” Do not murder”
Thankfully we need not worry (almost everyone) about the “literal” act of doing this. But the spiritual one , explained by our Lord (Matt 5:21-22) is where we shouldn’t get into heated exchanges with people. Murder in our eyes is considered as “breaking” this Commandment.
#7 “Do not commit adultery”
Again this one is pretty clear cut. But it would include “any” sex outside of marriage. Because His word says fornicators will not be allowed in the God’s Kingdom (Eph 5:5).
# “Do not steal”
This one is wider than many think. For example if you hire someone to do work for you and you short-change him in what’s right for the work he did–you have “stolen” labor from him. You see how this has ALOT of variations? When you go to do your taxes DO NOT short change the government. If you do, you have stolen from the government. Remember Jesus said “render what is Ceasars to Ceasar and to God what is God’s” (Luke 20:25). This one really requires you keep a mindful watch that you do not steal.
#9 ” Do not bear false witness against your neighbor”
This one I believe comes up the least often. But when someone does it , it is really bad to the Lord. It covers lying AGAINST someone. Not just the typical lying that is done. Although that is called an abomination to God (Prov. 12:22)
#10 ” Do not covet”
This is another of those wide open ones. It covers ALOT. We must be careful that we don’t want, want, want. We can want money, things, people’s approval over God’s approval, etc. above and beyond what we truly need. The ultimate breaker of this one was Satan. He wanted (coveted) worship, power, exaltation. His coveting was his undoing. So we too must be sure we aren’t coveting. This is a sneaky one , for sure!
Hopefully this is a good guideline for your “walk” and possibly it has made you aware of some little things that are really BIG things to God.. The Lord doesn’t want ANY to miss His kingdom. But His pardon for you and I meant we are given a clean slate. The Holy Spirit comes in and helps us walk uprightly. We dare not go on messing our clean slate up (continual sinning) if we truly love Him(John 14:15) and want to be called into His Kindom.Remember we are told we only have two duties (Ecc 12:13) “Fear God and keep His Commandments”. The “fear” part comes in when we don’t want to do those little “breakings” for fear our walk will not be right with Him.Let us go to bed each night knowing we did our best according to His word.
In Christ, Rob
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