KEEPING THE SEVENTH COMMANDMENT
(Written by Sheila Gail Landgraf)
The next commandment that God gave to
Moses on the mountain is one of two commandments that have to do with the
consequences of sexual sins. All sexual
sins have consequences and God wants His children to be spared this sadness and
tragedy in their lives.
This seventh commandment was given to
help us to overcome the lusts of the flesh that are brought on by wrong sexual
desires. Contrary to popular public
opinion, this isn’t an outdated commandment.
It is just as relevant and just as significant today as the day God gave
it to Moses; only our current culture chooses to ignore it for the most
part. That doesn’t make it okay.
In so many sections of today’s modern world
sexual immorality is no longer regarded as evil or wrong. Not only are married
couples cheating on their spouses, but young couples have decided that living
together without marrying is perfectly acceptable and sex outside of marriage
is perfectly fine. God, however,
condemns all forms of sexual immorality.
It could not be clearer than the words written down in the prophetic
book of Revelation in Chapter 21, verse 8:
“But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the
sexually immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars –
they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”
Why would God want to confine us this
way? God isn’t against sex folks; He
created it! However, He created it to
take place in the natural context of marriage between one man and one woman for
the duration of one lifetime. It is a
special formula for happiness that God created and set into motion just for married couples. If
you decide to start breaking the rules of God’s formula, you will reap the consequences
of breaking God’s laws.
God didn’t make these rules to make
our lives harder; He did it to make our lives easier! If you don’t believe this; ask anyone you
know that has broken this commandment just how complicated their life became
during the process! Almost everyone who
has ever lived through an adulterous affair would be quick to tell you they do
not wish to go there again. They have
their scars and wounds to prove this. It
is a revolving door to grief. Almost
anything you do hurts someone. There is
no way out without injury, both to yourself and to numerous others. Still many do not think about these
consequences; they simply dive into their passions and wonder what went wrong
in the end.
God’s thinking is so much higher and
holier, and so far beyond the way we think on a human level, that He tried to
warn us about this. Knowing our
weaknesses, God actually gave us the commandment that would prevent our
troubles. It is the love that He has for us that brought
this commandment to be number seven on the list of ten.
Every time I think of God giving this
commandment I think of a little scene that took place at a family gathering in
my living room with my two year old granddaughter. What happened so innocently with her that day
painted a crystal clear picture for me of the reality of how we are to resist any
passions and trust God to guide us through those times when we are tempted.
She was over at our house playing while
the adults were engaged in conversation and she asked her father for another
piece of chocolate candy. She had
already consumed some chocolate earlier.
He said “no” and she was VERY disappointed. Like all grandchildren, she appealed the case
to her grandmother. She came to me with
big pouty eyes and said “Papa will not let me have any more chocolate! Grandmother, why won’t Papa let me have more
chocolate?” Without even thinking I
blurted out the first thought that came to mind (probably from The Holy Spirit)
and said “He won’t let you have any more chocolate because he loves you too
much.”
You should have seen the confused and
surprised look on her face!
In her two year old logic she couldn’t
understand why it was so bad for her to eat too much chocolate, and she LOVED
it so much; but her two year old logic DID understand the concept of real love
from her father. Once I said what I did,
she GOT the fact that her dad wasn’t being mean to her, but he was looking
after her own best interest whether she understood it or not.
Her whole countenance changed! She
went from being angry with her father to pondering, then walking across the
room to give him a hug and left in a much happier mood, forgetting all about
the chocolate! She was learning to trust her father's judgment.
It was a beautiful moment, and I caught
myself thinking that is just how our relationship with God is. We want what we want and we don’t understand
when He won’t let us have what we want; then looking back we begin to see that
His thinking was so far ahead of ours and His wisdom was so much greater than
ours; and God only forbids us from the things that are harmful to us because He
loves us. If we could only see this when
we are in the confines of our moments of passion and desire; and simply trust our heavenly Father's judgement, the whole world
would change! We would lead healthy and happy lives. When we accept his love
over our logic; joy comes instead of sorrow.
When we don’t; sorrow is not a strong enough word to describe the troubles
that only multiply.
Most people only consider how hard
this commandment is to keep. Of course
they don’t discuss that fact out loud; but they DO consider it, and they
consider it often. However there is the
other side of the scale: if you KEEP God’s
laws and confine your sexual desires to only your own mate in the context of
marriage; you will be blessed beyond measure.
It is that simple. Yet; it is
that complicated!
As we grow and learn (hopefully by
trust and not experimentation) we begin to see this isn’t simply a matter of
resisting sexual desire. It is all about
self-control. Self-control is one of the
greatest virtues that any child of God could ever aspire to develop. Self-control eliminates so many of the
difficulties in life; not just the ones that involve lust and desire. Self-control is all about being strong
instead of weak. It is about overcoming
instead of giving in to our own desires, or the easy way at the moment. The seventh commandment is about learning to
be strong instead of weak and learning to overcome in all circumstances. When we allow God to help us replace these sins with these virtues; the
blessings are many.
Just as we saw in the sixth
commandment; God gave Moses the condensed version of this commandment and Jesus
expanded on it later. Jesus had a lot to
say about adultery. Anyone studying the
scriptures in detail and taking the advice of Jesus in relation to sexual
morality would quickly see and realize that adultery starts in the heart. Thoughts given enough time usually provoke
action. How a man (or woman) thinks in
his or her heart is how they are going to relate to the world. If lust is allowed to lurk inside your mind
you are more likely to become vulnerable to the real thing. The devil is always prowling around like a
roaring lion just waiting on you to let your guard down and that is when he
will present you with your greatest temptations. Heed the warnings of Jesus to keep your mind free
of lustful thoughts. Matthew 5:27-28 gives
the instructions of Christ: “You
have heard that it was said by them of old time, You shall not commit adultery,
but I say unto you, that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her has
committed adultery with her already in his heart.”
Most people tend to read the above
quote from Jesus and feel helpless and hopeless. Everyone at some time or another has wrong
thoughts, but we must always remember that Jesus is not without mercy, and He didn’t make this statement to condemn the whole world. He died to save us; remember? So, how do we go about changing wrong
thoughts and actions and begin conforming to God’s commandments to stay sexually moral
in the world we live in today where temptations are thrown in our face every
time we turn on the TV, look at a computer or walk through the
neighborhood?
Let’s look at the woman caught in adultery
that we read of in John 8:11. When this
woman was brought before Jesus He neither condoned her sin nor condemned her as
a person. He gave her the key to
changing in the future with his words which were “go and sin no more.” That is what we are to do. We are all like this woman who found
Jesus. He forgave her and made her clean
again. When temptation comes we must
repent and change and sin no more. Pray
for strength over weakness. Pray to
overcome any desire that is too hard for you.
None of us have it within our own being to change; but with the power of
God all things are possible. God will not leave you or forsake you if you simply chose to turn to him in your time of need.
We must return our hearts to what God
intended for His people. We must follow
and keep the seventh commandment in our hearts and teach our children to do the
same.
It is a good thing to keep looking for biblical examples of
overcoming. They are so helpful. I am always encouraged to ponder how the Apostle
Paul spoke of overcoming in 2 Corinthians 12:9 when he said: “”But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient
for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly
about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.”
In this commandment as in all the
others it is only Christ living in us and through us that brings us peace and
contentment right where we are and this is how His love prevails and overcomes
the things of the world. God will teach us self-control if we allow him to do so.
So keep walking and obeying the commandments!
Keep overcoming.
Keep asking for mercy when you fail.
He is coming again! Keep your eye on the prize for He has overcome the world!
Keep overcoming.
Keep asking for mercy when you fail.
He is coming again! Keep your eye on the prize for He has overcome the world!
