Oh, those tricky Ten Commandments. They're hanging everyone up these days. I love what Dr. Tony Evans had to say about it on the radio one afternoon. In Deuteronomy 5 Moses is summoned up the mountain and comes back down with the Big Ten, which includes #6...thou shall not murder. Fast forward several hundreds of years later when Jesus says, in Matthew 5, not just those that murder will sit in judgment of it, but anyone who is even so much as angry with his brother is guilty of murder. Jesus is taking God's law beyond just the action of our hands and is looking at the condition of our hearts. What a funny concept. How many times have I "bitten my tongue" with someone and patted myself on the back for it? As if not saying all of the negative things I was thinking would somehow make me a better person when what Jesus is saying is I shouldn't be thinking them to begin with. Or the guy clenching his fists at his side to keep from punching someone. We applaud his self control, but should any of us really be longing to deck another person in the first place? Oh, don't get me wrong. Our brothers and sisters do not always make it easy on us. But if we're to take God's word seriously then we have to try. The fact is our hands and mouths are completely unreliable. All it takes is one bad day and our bad thoughts become bad words, bad actions. Our self control goes right out the window. We can sterilize our environments as best we can, control our circumstances to pose no threats, but until we can affect what's going on inside of our hearts we stand no chance at peace. Valentine's Day is coming up and everything around us seems to be exploding red and pink glitter, shiny hearts and stuffed teddy bears. We're thinking lots about the people in our lives that we love. What about the people we don't? As I buy my requisite boxes of chocolate this year in honor of all the ones I have no trouble adoring, I'll be saying an extra prayer that God helps turn my heart around for the ones I do. XOXO...Kelly
You are echoing thoughts I had around the first of the year. That led me to Ephesians 4:29. 2013 is my year to live this verse. It isn't always easy, but I do notice that my thoughts aren't going to the negatives as often or as quickly. I guess my work is still cut out for me. Hopefully, by the end of the year I will have made significant progress.
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