March 5, 2012

Opening Hymns:
Don’t You Know It’s Time to Praise the Lord (Red Praise Book 125)
In Moments Like These (Red Praise Book 113)

Scripture Reading:
Exodus 20:1-11

Message: Right vs Wrong
In the scripture above we get the first 4 of the 10 commandments: No other gods be for Him, No idols, do not misuse the name of the Lord, and remember the Sabbath day and keep it holy. These rules seem rather simple. At least they seemed very simple to me when I was a little girl growing up. I had often wondered… ‘If we know what is good and what is bad, why would anyone want to do bad things?’

There were a few things I wasn’t thinking about. At my young age everything seemed like it was good or bad, and there was no neutral area. However, there seems to be a lot of grey areas in life. There are also times when a bad deed is necessary for a good deed to arise.

When I was in high school we had a psychology teacher who posed the question: “What if you had a child who was going to die of a disease that was only cured by this one expensive drug that you could not afford… you had tried everything to get the money or convince the drug company to give you the drug without any success. Would you steal the drug so your child could live?”

Situations like that make the Ten Commandments a lot more complicated than an elementary school student could imagine. I am grateful that a situation like that has not come up in my life… if something like that did come up I know I would do my best to stay true to my beliefs while saving my child at the same time.

Ten Commandments could also be broken for a less noble purpose… such as desire, sin, and laziness. As I’ve grown up I’ve learned why people would do bad things even though they know it’s bad. Because of their own wants and desires. We are all human. We all sin. But there is good news. Christ has come and has died for our sins. We should still remember God’s rules, and try to do well in the eyes of the Lord. However, when we mess up and sin, we can all know that God is there to forgive us and love us. When our neighbors sin we should forgive them as well. How can we be the judge if we are sinners too?

Time of Prayer
Dear Lord, thank You for giving us the Ten Commandments so we know what is good and what is bad. Guide us in Your path, and keep us from temptations. Lead us when we face difficult choices in our lives. Forgive us when we sin. In Jesus name I pray. Amen.

The Lord’s Prayer

Closing Hymn
His Name Is Wonderful (Red Praise Book 108)

May the Lord bless you and keep you: May the Lord make His face shine upon you, and be gracious unto you: May the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace." Amen.

Go in peace, serve the Lord
Thanks be to God