#DailyDevotion How To Love Your Neighbor

Exodus 20:12-17 ¹²“Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long on the land the LORD your God is giving you. ¹³“Do not murder. ¹⁴“Do not commit adultery. ¹⁵“Do not steal. ¹⁶“Do not lie concerning your neighbor. ¹⁷“Do not covet your neighbor’s house. Do not covet your neighbor’s wife, his male or female servant, his ox, donkey, or anything that is his.”

I guess I should start off this devotion with the following words from Ex. 20, “²“I am the LORD your God, Who brought you out of Egypt, where you were slaves.” This is the basis for everything the LORD commands the Israelites in the rest of the Torah. He delivered Israel from the hands of the Egyptians through his servant Moses and was bringing them into the land he had promised their founder Abraham. For us Christians we may think of Jesus Christ died on the cross to take away your sins, rose from the dead on the 3^rd day and has rescued you from the power of sin, death and the devil and is now bringing you into the new heavens and new earth. All commands about our life is this world flow from that Gospel statement.

So the 4^th commandment, “Honor your father and your mother,” is sort of a lynch pin of the two tables of the Law. They are our first understanding of God and they stand in the place of God to raise, guard, protect and take care of us. Depending on how well they do that will affect what we think about God when we learn of God. They are also our first neighbors. Because they are in a God given position in life we are to honor them in all things because of their office. It matters not how good or how bad they are. We are to honor them. The best way to honor them is by obeying the other commandments. That gives honor to their name and shows them honor, even if they do not deserve it.

Murder is the intentional killing of someone we do not have the authority to kill. Our laws reflect this understanding. We don’t murder because other people were created in the image and likeness of God. It doesn’t honor God to destroy his image and likeness. We should also not intentionally do things to our neighbor that will cause him to die earlier than he should. Jesus in his sermons tells us being angry with our neighbor is breaking this commandment because anger often leads to murder. Adultery is all sex outside the bounds of marriage (marriage being the union of a man and a women for life). All sexual unions outside of this union are forbidden here because they destroy the unity as reflected in the Trinity and these acts end up in idolatry of one sort of another, well they actually demonstrate the idolatry of lust and self that are already there in our hearts. Stealing is taking something that doesn’t belong to you. Bearing false witness is like murdering and stealing someone’s reputation.

Coveting wraps up all these commandments and one could say is the root sin of all the previous commandments. We want something but we don’t trust God to provide it for us. So we turn to something or someone else to give it to us. We misuse his name. We don’t worship God alone. We dishonor our parents. We commit adultery, steal, and lie to get what we want. While we may never act out on all these things coveting is the birthplace for all our sins. We need a new heart. Jesus gives us that new heart when we turn from our sins to him, believe his promise of forgiveness, are baptized and given his life.

Heavenly Father, we have sinned against you in so many ways but mainly by not trusting your. Grant us new life and a new heart in Christ so we may begin to obey your will. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.